HENDRIK KERSTENS
The Dutch photographer pays tongue-in-cheek homage to the Dutch master painters of the past by recreating photo portraits of his own daughter Paula. Mimicking their styles of lighting and composition, most notably the work of Johannes Vermeer (famous for his Girl with the Pearl Earring painting) is a recurring inspiration but Kerstens adds yet another layer of light to manipulate through his chiaroscuro lens...humor.
In deadpan seriousness each photograph demands we accept its absurdity. Whether of a trash bag bonnet, or lampshade hat, or tablecloth habit--These jokes seem to question idolization of the subject while simultaneously beckoning us to admire how even the most mundane items are perfectly captured to seem painted by oil on canvas.
Most remarkable of all perhaps, these photos, through camera lenses more than capable of capturing reality, bend instead to mimic the painted ideal of reality as explored by the foregone Dutch artists of light and shadow. Maybe that’s the joke, we can take pictures now of things as they are, but its still higher art to copy the painters who did it less realistically, by hand.
View/read more at Danziger Gallery