SHE @ Galerie BlockC
‘SHE is the preliminary highlight of Kroese’s oeuvre, but she has come a long way to get here.’
‘This series includes 15 large, black and white photographic portraits of Gabrielle Kroese, on which she has painted squares in many colors. The photographs come from her father’s inheritance and are the result of a family ritual. Each year Kroese’s mother had all four children portrayed by a professional photographer on the occasion of their father’s birthday. We have to make an effort to look at the pictures through the colored layer, but then we see ‘her’ transform from an uninhibited child into a serious adolescent, who shuts herself off from the photographer, to finally meet our gaze as a shy young woman. This work is intended by the artist as a ‘coming of age’ series that, through her own portraits, could show the growing up of any girl into a young woman.
All the pictures are partially covered by geometric color fields that hardly disturb the expression of the faces. The fields are always differently colored and differently placed, so we are inclined to associate the abstract compositions with the moods of the person portrayed. But in her recent work Kroese has chosen the colors and the placement of the abstract fields randomly. When looking longer at SHE, we may opt for alternating the representation and the abstraction in the images. It is also possible, however, to see both layers at the same time, as they demand equal attention. Then it seems as if a flickering lightshow is passing the portraits, enlivening and tinting the black and white photographs.’
From the accompanying text: Katalin Herzog, ‘She, a series painted prints by Gabrielle Kroese’.
open: Thursday – Saturday | 13:00 – 17:00
Because of the rules concerning corona, 2 persons can enter at the same time. Please register at no 14.
You can also make an appointment: 06 57673865
Galerie Block C | Westerhavenstraat 14A | Groningen
