Koos Breukel (1962)
'What I try to share with the viewer,' explains Koos Breukel, 'is the effect of a first meeting. You don't have much information about the person, but you do have the same curiosity that a photographer has: "How are you, what's your story?"'* A viewer of Breukel's photographs will recognise this approach, but will also see that his work is too intense for a fleeting first impression.
Breukel creates a bond with the subjects of his portraits through his wooden, large format camera on a tripod. When his head disappears under the dark cloth, he leaves the subjects alone with their thoughts, fears, and questions. That is the moment that Breukel best loves to capture, which is also why he prefers to work with people who have faced life-changing events in their past. Since 2006, Breukel has also photographed in subdued colours, although just as in his stark black-and-white photos, light and concentration remain the defining factors. With the eye of a seventeenth-century Dutch master, Breukel peers through his viewfinder straight into the hearts of his models.
* C. Voet, 'Lelijkheid bestaat niet voor mij', NRC Handelsblad, 29.06.2001
