Marijn Akkermans Haphazard monsters
The title of the exhibition is derived from the scientific research method in which haphazard samples are used to gather objective statistics. In daily life the data of this type of research are often used to make generalisations which are not legitimate based on the practised research method. Even the 'objectivity' of science is sensitive to subjective interpretation. But how do we see and question art?
Marijn Akkermans paints on paper in translucent layers of ink. In recent work the artist's emphasis is on the face. Akkermans doesn't work after photographs or models. We see faces of non-existing persons, as the artist works from his 'unconscious'; "Of course, an art work is never completely unconscious. In the process of making an ink painting there is involuntarily my selection and direction. But even though the imagination is rationally directed, I didn't imagine it up front to 'imagine' it in this particular way. Why do I imagine it, and what does the final result stand for, actually?" Akkermans is concerned with the defects of rationality which lie at the basis of our choices, and of which the deepest sources and causes remain hidden. We only have the surface to project on. "To me a drawing is like a pitch - it's a proposal for projection. But projection is like a ghost. As soon as we try to grasp it, it falls apart."
Among other works Haphazard monsters exhibits the series '...and suddenly, all is revealed', which shows variations of faces faded with fear. Gestures and emotional expressions are scrutinized again and again. The faces don't pose, but react. The series of framed ink paintings partly disappears into the gallery walls, causing a suggestion of the invisible and unknowable.
The triptych 'It turned out it wasn't a person, but a situation' shows a grinning man who is looking at us, the viewer. It's an assemblage of a repetitive painted face, which is tilted, stacked and folded. The triptych consists of ten painted faces which are either visible or partially or completely invisible - due to the folded paper.
The artist book 'Expressions of disagreement' consists of original ink paintings of male faces whom express disagreement, contempt or disgust. Unlike the other works these paintings were put on paper with relative ease. It's a more informal study of variations of a certain facial expression. For the composition of this booklet the sheets of paper were painted on both sides, then folded and bound together. This way the technical procedure is a 'conjugation' of multiple faces, causing new variations of the emotional expression. The booklet doesn't have a cover, and it has no beginning and no ending.
Akkermans: "There is a lot written about how we are directed and determined by digital algorithms, but simultaneously our millennia old biological algorithms shape us as well. Our deepest incentives, which are at the basis of our choices, remain invisible in inimitable contingency. 'Granting' meaning to our choices seems haphazard and irrational. Meaning is merely a hypothesis. Is art the ultimate illusion of free choice and imagination? It appears that my choices are not 'free' choices, they only seem to be disguised as such. As an artist, how can I take a stand for what I do? This quicksand is the fundament of my work."