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Fully dedicated to the portrait, that is sculptor Gert Germeraad. He makes heads, busts and torsos of existing people. On the one hand, he bases these on painted or drawn self-portraits by other artists. On the other hand, theories such as 'physiognomy' or 'the art of reading faces' are a source of inspiration. In short, Germeraad is interested in the portrait in the broadest sense of the word.

We could call this sculptor an interpreter, who translates two-dimensional works of art from the past into his own modern, three-dimensional visual language. Germeraad formed portrait heads out of clay, based on profile sketches by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). At the same time he is a researcher. His bronze plinth sculpture 'Portrait of a Man' stems from a study of the self-image of artists. He also involved the naked self-portraits of Viennese artist Egon Schiele (1890-1918), who drew his own skinny male body with intense feelings. Based on these drawings, Germeraad made a series of elongated torsos. He applied that motif to 'Man Portrait'. Schiele's influence is still vaguely perceptible in the image: the skinny boyish body, the narrow shoulders, the proportionately too large head with high forehead. And the nudity that gives the work of art an erotic charge.

Germeraad, however, always gives his images his own twist. Mansportret' is not a literal translation of a drawing by Schiele, but the portrait of a fictitious person. Someone with desires and emotions. Emotions that are directed inwards rather than outwards, as in Schiele's case. The emphasis is not so much on ugliness as on vulnerability. And the work of art is not a scream, but the representation of a contemplative moment. This man is holding himself while he stands in the world and thinks,' says Germeraad.