JanKé

Which medium is better to go to the essence than a black and white image that draws all the attention to the subject without being distracted by colour. This collection contains both portraits that have a certain roughness at the time and more philosophical situations depicting people in their environment that typifies them. Using on the one hand a close-up of the head and on the other hand depicting people in a situation without any gray value but pure black and white one finds here the essence of portrait art.

This is a series that Jan Keteleer made as a side-step during a social project that made a statement about racism by capturing people who "spoke" with the viewer in sign language. The photographs used in the series were black and white to emphasize the equality of people through the absence of colour. The bias of one's skin colour then disappears. In order to emphasize the bias of colour once again, Jan Keteleer took a small series from the large project and coloured in these black and white images. How relative can the skin colour be from birth if you can change it manually?

Jan Keteleer likes making portraits of women much more than of men because they are so much more mysterious. Men may think they are the strong sex but everyone knows that women are so much stronger and more versatile. The nice thing about making a portrait of a woman is trying to get hold of their soul... which, of course, is impossible.

With this series of nudes I do not wish to create erotically ornate works at all but wish to reflect on the fragility one has when one is thinking about something in a subdued way. The nudity of these figures emphasize our human being stripped of all clothing and other material things. The figures all have closed eyes and are clearly thinking about what is going on in the outside world that affects them.

This is a series of close-up portraits in which I try to touch the soul of the model. For this I use several techniques, besides digital works you will also find photographs and classical paintings. The portraits are sometimes subdued other funny intended or with a serious message to the viewer.