Hans Broek

“Broek’s work’s got attitude.” – ­Marlene Dumas

“In combining extremes, Broek homes in on our zeitgeist." – Wilma Sütö

The central theme in the oeuvre of Dutch artist Hans Broek (b. 1965) is landscape. He often paints locations where history has left an indelible mark, manifesting his belief that art should jolt you awake. He finds inspiration all around the world: a telegraph pole under a dark, cloudy Spanish sky; modern bungalows on the outskirts of LA; melting ice caps in Greenland; and wind-blown, rainy landscapes on the Atlantic seaboard in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. His series of paintings that depict prisons, dungeons, cell doors, plantations, and seats of colonial power funded by slavery - ‘guilty architecture’ where injustice was witnessed without intervention - serve as moving, silent witnesses to the ugly history of the Dutch slave trade. With contributions by Edo Dijksterhuis, Dominic van den Boogerd, Wilma Sütö and the artist himself. This book is published on the occasion of the exhibition.

Text in English and Dutch

Hans Broek is a painter of Dutch origin. His principal theme is the painting of landscapes and architecture that he finds on his travels. He calls himself a ‘traveling landscape painter in the spirit of Frans Post’. Currently he is working on a project about the history of Dutch slave trade.