Stepping into Katrien Haemer’s studio is similar to storming right in the middle of her intimacy. Lost within the maze of an old factory building along of the river Maas, the artist’ working space is stacked with canvasses. This profusion is not only a testimony of her productivity. As one flips through different paintings, taking a look at each of them individually, painting by painting, her studio-bazaar becomes the mirror of her own work: a condensed space with high concentration of Haemer’s self.
With an energetic stroke, she pours on the canvas what she calls layers of emotions. In fact, quite literally, another layer of paint often brings another layer of emotion. The painting changes overnight. This sort of emotional structure consequently brings about a feeling of depth, both visual and sentimental. She stages her own grotesque tragicomedy, at times with flair and sometimes with despair. And though she cites Max Beckmann as her source of inspiration, one cannot help but noticing that her women’s eyes are in their own way as crucial as van Dongen’s groote ogen. In the end, Haemer’s paintings truly are all self-portraits. Identification is the key to the completion of her work which always contains elements of herself, or someone she loves.
Katrien Haemers (1977) grew up in the red-light district of Eindhoven where her feminist mom decided to move. It is as if some of the women she waved at on her way back from school can now be found in her work. She followed her art education at the Art Academy of Maastricht and has had several gallery shows in the city that has now adopted her.