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Grote
Kerk Koorstraat 2,
Alkmaar The
Netherlands
From Friday July 6 th
to sunday September 2nd 2007
open from tuesday to
saterday from 10.00 to 17.00 and on sunday from 12.00 to 17.00 hr.
Admission 4 euro ( in
which is concluded a cup of coffee/thee in order to catch your breath
seeyeing this wondrously beautiful exhibition.)
Free admission for
children under 9 years when accopanied by an adult.
website
grote kerk
participants
exhibition
   
deelnemers
expo
PERS
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Naked
in the church! |
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Johan van Breukelen one of the participants of
the groupexhibition
'Male and female He created
them' July 6 th
to sunday September 2nd 2007
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Yoesuf
(60x60 cm)
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The summer exhibition of 2007 in the great
St. Lawrence Church Alkmaar in The Netherlands is influenced by Genesis 1,
verse 27: Male and female He created them. Frpm whichever religious or
philosophical conviction you regards the human being, we can agree upon
one thing: the human being is a miracle. Obvisiosly you can search for
rational explanations or otherwise for this miracle, but you can also
look. Look at that miracle. As artist do. They look at the human being and
give their impression of that miracle. In paintings, statues, photo's,
instalations and what have you.
Come and look too. Look at people as
20 artists see them. Unless you do not want to be confronted with this
miracle, the human being. Althougt that surely would be somewhat
miraculous.
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Angel
(print on aluminium 100 x 70 cm)
 
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About
the work of Johan van Breukelen
The
painter Paul Cezanne has painted and drawn the mount Sainte
Victoire in the Provence in his work for years. Still you cannot
call his work ‘mountain-art’. Just like you cant categorise
the work of Johan van Breukelen simply as ‘male-nude’ or ‘
erotic photography’. His work is just too dark and by ingenious
use of mirrors litterally too deforming.
Sometimes
you can still see how well formed the bodies of the models are,
and they reflect certain beauty ideals. But in contrast to what
you frequently see in the work of artists who take ‘male-nude’
as a subject, Van Breukelen doesn’t seem to be interested in
external beauty and youth. For him beauty and youth refer to the
decline that underneath is already irrevocably going on. Naked
bodies are being represented in distorted poses, wrestling with
themselves and each other. You could say that in much of the work
suffering and the fight between life and death is taking place.
Still in the work of Van Breukelen that doesnt seem to lead to
gloominess or depression. In his work fighting and suffering
take the form of dancing and playfullness with
vulnerability and strength combined with shadows, light and
wonderful colours. This combination is the most important
influence that gives this work, certainly that of the last few
years, its exceeding and festive quality.
Martin Kolk
(kunstliefhebber & verzamelaar)
A
celebration of life!
A celebration of life! That's my first thought looking at the
works of Johan van Breukelen. A bright, fresh and colorful tribute
to the male in an almost surreal world. The way he is using his
photographic material is more the work of a painters hand than
that of a photographer's camera.
The colors are reminding me of michelangelo fresco's. Well,
after they have been clean up by the last restoration. And sure
the male models have the same ideal proportions the fresco's are
famous for. The other theme he uses a lot is reflection.
Reflection of the body in the surrounding space. Sometimes this
is used natural, sometimes it's more like the colors and form
are extended elements filling the whole image. It gives a great
sensual and personal touch to the work of this remarkable artist.
Auke Veenstra (lovechess.nl/artoflove)
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great St. Lawrence Church Alkmaar
website
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Johan van Breukelen is one of the
twenty selected artists taking part in the group exhibition,
'The Naked Human Being', in the Grote Kerk, in Alkmaar, The
Netherlands.
Since 1989, his photography has
been shown in many places both in The Netherlands and abroad.
Examples being; in the Melkweg and the Faubourg galleries in
Amsterdam; the Jansen gallery in Berlin and the de Lelie
gallery in Antwerp. And now for two months in a church!
Nudes have always
been controversial in the public domain and today perhaps
even more so; certainly if they're displayed in 'God's House.'
Adam
(print
op zeildoek 180x120 cm)
A number of 'God's children,'
portrayed by Johan van Breukelen, can be seen lifesize in
this fabulous exhibition, from the 6th of July until the
2nd of September, 2007
Leon
(print
op zeildoek 180x120 cm)
Johannes
(print
op zeildoek 180x120 cm)
bloot
& spelen (foto
50x70 cm)
The artist Johan van Breukelen
originally began his artistic career as a lighting and
decor-designer with several theatre companies. Since 1989, he has
devoted himself to two-dimensional works of art in which he draws
with light. He makes photo works and photographs.
His photo works
are a combination of photography and different drawing and
painting techniques. The photographs are characterized by playing
with light and reflection and the direct painting of body¹s. Men
inspire the subjects of his paintings. During photographic
sessions he seeks, together with his models, to imagine his ideas
and fantasies, male sexual energy, strength and vulnerability.
The manipulation in the
photography is a reflection of the contact between photographer
and model and portrays for both of them an innermost and thus
highly personalized state of being. The end-result is thus a 'biographical
monument.'Johan van Breukelen¹s art both repels and attracts the
observer. It is not always pleasant to be confronted with light
where all your intuition tells you to expect darkness. The work
therefore provides a focus on reality in the life of the observer.
The play with light and darkness demands contrast for its
perception.
For only through consciousness of
darkness is light revealed, and vice versa. By working with
shadows, van Breukelen portrays men's desire, contact-seeking and
bonding with other men. Through the photographer's eyes, a mirror
image is an external expression of an inner world and is intended
as a symbol of the force of attraction between men which is based
on the compulsion to encounter and become acquainted with oneself
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