Hot off the press, The Vulgarity of Being Three-Dimensional is an immersive new book of photography and sculpture by Danish photographic artist Tine Bek. Expect aesthetic experiments that reject hierarchy and structure. Shapes that run-over, flow, crumble and bulge. Sculpture where vulgarity strangely isn’t at all  vulgar.

Fruit, material, fabric and figures are brought together in a mix of still life, found forms and photographed sculptures. Elevating everyday objects as unassuming protagonists, Bekshe exposes and rejects material hierarchy. Who says marble is more impressive than foam? Why should a stone fountain take centre stage over a bathroom tap? Scratch beneath the surface and what separates these luxury materials from scraps?

In the text ‘Within the commonality lies the sparkling truth’ Isabella Rose Celeste Davey writes, “Vulgarity, from the Latin term vulgus, was the term for common people, an insinuation of the ordinary. We consider the vulgar to be crude, below our station, brash, crass, rough – terms that are charged with ill interest, with gall, with remorse. What if vulgar was not a bad thing at all, merely a removal of a mask. The slipperiness of expectation slinking away?

Bek’s primary mediums are video and photography, with multi-media collaboration at the heart of her work. She uses photography not just to record, but rather to produce artistic crossovers that open up new possibilities. 

The book has been awarded with the Hasselblad Foundation’s Photo Book Grant 2021 and is published by Disko Bay in Copenhagen, Denmark.