Bert Daenen

Bert Daenen (Tongeren, Belgium - 1970) is a natural-born photographer. After years of experimenting in visual arts, he found his focus on portrait photography. In his unique point of view, he puts people in a very extra-ordinary contextual frame. Bert aims for the kind of photography where a touching story behind the people intrigues the visitor. Starting from ‘less is more’, he only shows the essence of the portrait. Within this context, timelessness is prior to achieving an everlasting impression. Details can be found in his work but only in a very subtle way in order to give even more depth to the composition.

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Bert Daenen's Art

Bert’s project ‘The Portrait’ is a personal essay where his skills as an exceptional photographer are being reflected.

Bert’s portraits don’t tell anecdotes but transcend daily reality. They invite you to pause for a moment, to open yourself to the richness of the image, and look for the story behind the picture.

Bert is rightfully called an artist with a  camera as he paints with light. He plays with colors and contrasts. He forces your gaze to the center of the action: the face and hands. The women in his photos look subdued, musing, focused, deep in thought. Sometimes their gaze is down and some of them look you right in the eye. They are separate from a concrete environment, which puts them at the center of attention. They seek connection with the visitor who in turn wants to escape from the hectic pace and worries of every day. Bert's art refers both to the atmosphere that painters such as Vermeer or Rembrandt evoke in their portraits and to the work of Bill Viola or that of photographers such as Dorothea Lange, Man Ray, Walker Evans who can capture the emotion of life in one image. After that first glance, he invites you to look further. The seemingly black areas that surround the faces appear to contain a wealth of hues with details that reward the meticulous viewer.