DIRK BRAECKMAN

Lives and works in Ghent (BE)

Since the mid-1980s, Dirk Braeckman has developed an impressive oeuvre consisting of photography, and more recently video. Encountering images from his daily surroundings and by chance, Braeckman’s large grayscale works suggest rather than explain. They offer a window into an unidentified reality: distant seascapes, deserted ballrooms, billowing curtains, antique wallpaper, or the blurred image of a nude. Atmosphere, cropping, light and texture are given central place in Braeckman’s poetic work.

Braeckman’s darkroom functions like a painter’s studio; an area for experimentation where the artist allows freedom, spontaneity and time to influence his creative process. Using tools and techniques to manipulate the negatives, the resulting works possess a tactility rarely seen in photography. Braeckman’s painterly approach stretches the limits of the medium. According to Braeckman, photography is the most subjective experience there is. Far from telling the truth, the medium offers a boundless illusion.

Selected collections: The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (US), Artothèque, Annecy (FR); Belgacom Art, Brussels (BE); Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris (FR); Centraal Museum, Utrecht (NL); Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris (FR); Centro de Fotografia de la Universidad, Salamanca (ES); Fondation nationale d’art contemporain, Paris (FR); Frac Nord-Pas de Calais, Dunkirk (FR); Frac Rhône-Alpes, Villeurbanne (FR); Kunstmuseum, The Hague (NL); M HKA, Antwerp (BE); MAC’s Grand-Hornu, Hornu (BE); Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris (FR); Ministère de la Communauté française, Brussels (BE); Ministerie van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Brussels (BE); Musée Niépce, Chalon-sur-Saône (FR); Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi (BE); Musée d’Art Contemporain et Moderne, Strasbourg (FR); Mu.ZEE, Ostend (BE); Philadelphia Museum of Art (US); De Pont, Museum, Tilburg (NL); Provinciaal Museum voor Fotografie, Antwerp (BE); Royal Palace, Brussels (BE); Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels (BE); Sammlung Goetz, Munich (DE); Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst S.M.A.K., Ghent (BE).

Courtesy GRIMM