A new era for Dutch photography begins in the early 1970s. It is no longer just the content of the photo that the photographer focuses on. It goes beyond that. Space, light, and timing are played with. Constantly searching for hidden elements, creating light and shadows, abstractions, and a certain surrealistic feeling. All of this suggests a world beyond the frame of the photo. This work pays tribute to the great masters who were able to portray space, light, and the depth of bright tones in their paintings in a mysterious way (source: Lorenzo Merlo, Contemporary photography in the Netherlands 1980).
During the same period, Rudi Fuchs is appointed as the director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. Thanks to him and the aforementioned developments, artists from Eindhoven are once again in the spotlight. Fuchs actively participates in conversations in the ateliers in Eindhoven, thus getting to know the attitudes and positions that will partly determine the policy of the Van Abbemuseum. Hans Biezen, René Daniëls, Piet Dirkx, and Stijn Peeters are some of the well-known Brabant artists of that time. Inspiring projects such as the artists’ initiative De Fabriek arise in the vicinity of the Van Abbemuseum, something that would still be unthinkable in the Randstad (source: Michiel Morel, under the smoke of Van Abbe 2011).
Hans Biezen finds himself at the heart of the art world in Eindhoven during these developments. As a sculptor by training, Biezen is self-taught in the field of photography. This is not a coincidence, as he wants to photograph as honestly and unbiasedly as possible. Photography is more than sculpting to him; it is a means to interpret reality in his own way and with feeling. Initially, Biezen focuses his photography on situations that allow him to take beautiful and powerful photos. But at some point, he begins to see this as a limitation of his photographic possibilities. Therefore, Biezen simplifies his photography into mainly a documentary form.
http://www.ftn-books.com has now one of the very first Biezen publications he made for the van Abbemuseum available.
