Bio 

Ryan Koopmans and Alice Wexell are artists who specialise in the visual revival of abandoned architecture. Using a range of creative techniques, they transform real-world physical spaces into captivating digital environments that blur the boundaries between reality and fiction.

Bio - Ryan Koopmans

Ryan Koopmans (BA, MFA) is a Canadian-Dutch lens-based artist who is passionate about the built environment and its relationship with society. He has been a full-time professional artist and photographer since 2007 whose work is collected, published & exhibited worldwide.  In 2020, Koopmans published ‘Vantage’, a book that showcases surreal structures in megacities and urban landscapes.

Bio - Alice Wexell

Alice Wexell is a Swedish 3D artist and photographer interested in experiencing and creating surreal environments through new technologies. Over the past decade, Wexell has worked alongside Koopmans on digital art and photography projects all over the world.

Their acclaimed project, The Wild Within, explores the intricate relationship between nature, architecture, and time.

Synopsis

The Wild Within is a series of digital artworks that bring new life into abandoned buildings from a bygone era.  Based on real-world physical spaces, an animated rebirth into a digital realm has been created.

Ryan Koopmans & his partner Alice Wexell visited different locations around the world over several  years, exploring ruins and photographing structures that have undergone dramatic transition.  Upon returning, they digitally introduced vegetation, modified the structure and lighting, and animated the scenes with the intention of reviving the empty spaces, essentially bringing life back into the rooms.  The results are a surreal collision between the past and future, natural and manmade, physical and digital, and the real and imaginary. 

The aim of the artwork is to create a sense of surreal tranquillity whilst referencing the themes of architectural history and its intricate relationship with the natural world.  Many of the buildings depicted in The Wild Within have been demolished in recent years, further emphasising the theme of time passing in the cycle of growth and decay.

The first artwork from The Wild Within was released on March 24, 2021, with a focus on the Georgian town of Tskaltubo.  This began the genesis chapter of a project that has been widely celebrated, exhibited and acquired by some of the World's premier collectors of digital art.

www.thewildwithin.xyz