Hans Broek

The first overview of the work of Dutch artist Hans Broek, whose painted landscapes of far-flung places and locations connected to the Dutch slave trade ('guilty architecture') create a moving and silent witness to history. Text in English and Dutch.

“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