New Amsterdam - Richard Koek - New Hope Celebrates

By far, New Hope Celebrates is the biggest party in our Delaware River Towns, and we have an amazing and inspiring gallery event featuring Amsterdam born, Brooklyn photographer Richard Koek. Welcome to New Amsterdam.
Richard’s richly colored photographs are as much portraits of New Yorkers as they are of the urban landscapes and the Manhattan neighborhoods they inhabit.
The portraits possess a certain level of detachment and yet are also an intimate view into his subject’s environment and surroundings. Richard does not engage with his clients, instead, his technique is to capture the very thing that caught his attention in the first place, at that very moment. Likening himself to a war photographer - he moves through the city and its boroughs like a soldier on a visual mission, highly tuned to respond to those iconographic moments.
The exception to this approach is his portrayal of “Laura”, a soft-spoken, unassuming, transgendered woman who has been a life-long collector of gender and transgendered materials. Her collection of photographs, postcards, flyers and programs for gay night clubs, sheet music and clippings cover a wide range of gender expression, from drag queens and kings to cowgirls and bearded ladies
Join us on May 19, 7PM for a special Artist Reception Party. This show is also part of the New Hope Celebrates Art Walk and LGBT Community Historical Retroscope. We will be open during a very special visit to the Retroscope exhibits, starting at 7PM on Tuesday, May 16. Learn more about the NHC Art Walk and LGBT Historical Retroscope.
Richard’s richly colored photographs are as much portraits of New Yorkers as they are of the urban landscapes and the Manhattan neighborhoods they inhabit.
The portraits possess a certain level of detachment and yet are also an intimate view into his subject’s environment and surroundings. Richard does not engage with his clients, instead, his technique is to capture the very thing that caught his attention in the first place, at that very moment. Likening himself to a war photographer - he moves through the city and its boroughs like a soldier on a visual mission, highly tuned to respond to those iconographic moments.
The exception to this approach is his portrayal of “Laura”, a soft-spoken, unassuming, transgendered woman who has been a life-long collector of gender and transgendered materials. Her collection of photographs, postcards, flyers and programs for gay night clubs, sheet music and clippings cover a wide range of gender expression, from drag queens and kings to cowgirls and bearded ladies
Join us on May 19, 7PM for a special Artist Reception Party. This show is also part of the New Hope Celebrates Art Walk and LGBT Community Historical Retroscope. We will be open during a very special visit to the Retroscope exhibits, starting at 7PM on Tuesday, May 16. Learn more about the NHC Art Walk and LGBT Historical Retroscope.