not so happy Print

The Dutch artist Denny Stoekenbroek is first and foremost a portrait artist. Beginning with painting about ten years ago, he definitively confirmed his desire to create with drawings. With charcoals, he tries to show the uniqueness of humans in each of his compositions. His style unites the natural with a vintage aesthetic taken from black and white photographic portraits. Indeed, the artist is principally interested in the light and its contrasts. Self-taught, he trained himself through drawing to produce a real representation guided by nuances of black and white. The looks, the hair and the facial characteristics therefore become true expressive concerns. Later, Denny Stoekenbroek turned towards urban landscapes, still with a charcoal technique with infinite effects. Skyscrapers, avenues, cars or trams therefore sketch a man-made décor. His silhouette, placed in the portraits, goes into action in these new compositions to create movement. The facial expression therefore becomes the expression of a whole body, which hurriedly crosses the road or takes shelter from the rain. The emphatic contrasts underline the importance of light in the artist’s practice, a unique and true indicator of time passing.