Born in the Hague in 1956, Hendrik Kerstens has for the last 17 years been producing a body of work that explores some of the many intersections between painting and photography. Using his daughter Paula as his only subject, Kerstens not only photographs her in reference to Old Master Dutch painting but also in relation to her own life and today’s world .
Conceptually Kerstens’ photographs address issues of seriality, time, and identity, while emotionally they speak of his love for his child and their ongoing collaboration. Kerstens photographs are masterful prints with an extraordinary combination of light and skin tone that signal a new technical level of achievement in printing. A largely self-taught photographer, over the last decade Kerstens has mastered his craft in a way that serves to dispel any lingering questions about the quality, validity, and expressive power of digital photography.
