Lilith

Statement dated 2011 by Rick Vercauteren, director of Museum Van Bommel van Dam, Venlo (Nl) about Lilith:

 In 2005 Dutch photographer Henriëtte van Gasteren (Sevenum 1964)  - using her artist name Lilith - started playing with the image of today’s women in a cartoon-ish, humorous, super ironic and sometimes even in a painful realistic way. Lilith shows up  in many complex and sometimes even contrasting appearances. In her ground-braking ‘portraits’ Lilith in fact personifies herself as well as all women. Performances in between apparent and real.

 Round about the house, which functions as a continuously  changing stage, she produces appearances by means of remote control and delayed action shutter, each time differently dressed and posing in another way. Like a kaleidoscopic model she embodies many archetypes and stereotypes referring to women and male thoughts about women.

Framing, lighting, choice of colour, clothes, make-up, props and backdrops merge each time into one photograph. The super inventive Lilith is, running parallel to Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Groucho Marx, at the same time far advanced inventor, poseur, encadreur, metteur-en-scène and réalisateur.

 Sometimes she appears as a cheerful pin-up, a devoted mother, a playful enchantress, an athletic powergirl with a well trained hard body, a nude and stylish mannequin giving the expression ‘nine tailors go to a man’ a completely different dimension.

An overwhelming pattern-card of consciously selected alter ego’s holding up a dead sharp mirror in front of women and men in the year 2010/2011.

 Lilith’s self-portraits contain double layers which are always wrapped in a stylish and a humorous manner, but when it comes to point they efficiently ‘correct’ ancient convictions.

Themes: Women, female archetypes, identity, gender bending and life itself.

 2009: 3rd Annual Photography Masters Cup The Color Awards 2nd place - Merit of Excellence, category of Nude, with Banquet

 2010: 5th Annual Photography Masters Cup The Black & White Spider Awards. Nominated for the category of Nude, professional, with Body Parts: Piqued

2011: Nominee for ‘De Gouden Grijns’, with Side table

2011: Selected Summer exhibition 2011, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag NL with Side table

2011: Nominee for 5th annual Photography Masters Cup, category Fine Art, with Member of the biking nation

2011: Nominee for 5th annual Photography Masters Cup, category Fine Art, with Side table

Works acquired by:

Museum Van Bommel van Dam, Venlo Nl

Torch Gallery, Amsterdam Nl

Generali verzekeringsgroep (company collection main office) at Diemen, Nl

Eduard Planting, Amsterdam Nl

Creart, Noordwijk Nl

Several  photo art collectors (company collections as well as private persons)