Hôtel de la Providence (The Hotel of Providence) is Rajah Foo’s latest, and most accomplished, collection of paintings, exploring further the strange sexualised borderlands of nature and desire. The four sections – Entre-soi (Among Ourselves), Éléments (Elements), Pérégrinations (Peregrinations) and Bestiaire (Bestiary) – form a sort of narrative as the female protagonist explores a world of transformation, transmutation and metamorphosis.

It is inevitably a male fantasy world, a perspective to be remembered as Foo explores his fetishistic, animistic, penetrative landscapes. But it also reminds us that humans are not always that far removed from their animal neighbours and their animal instincts, both for better and for more dangerous. And it is in our most basic desires and imaginings that we are closest to our own instincts, often in conflict with our learned social skills and niceties.

As Stefan Prince writes in his preface to Hôtel de la Providence, ‘Rajah Foo seems to hold the key to this other world, and generously furnishes us with evidence of a variety of benevolent and malevolent spirits, all of whom have become a staple of his artistic and creative practice.’

We have included here around half of Foo’s images from the book; for the rest you will need to buy a copy for yourself.

Hôtel de la Providence is published by Éditions de la Première Heure, in a limited numbered edition of 99 copies; while stocks last it can be ordered from the publisher following this link.