Lisa Michelle Bakker

Can a reflection provide you with more information about your surroundings,
when it allows you to see both the foreground and background at the same time from different angles?
With a neurodivergent gaze, foregrounding a play of lines, textures, patterns and details,
I tend to look at spaces in an intriguing way. There’s so much to find in the spaces we live, experience, pass by and work in.
In-between spaces with liminality and ambiguity reoccur in my paintings.
Through painting mainly on cardboard, I try to interpret the perceived in new ways.
Cardboard, as a discarded material, opens up the possibility of painting with its color, texture, form, traces, temporary existence,
value and accessibility. It allows me to play with traces that become architectural when being in dialogue with the paint.

'In between third and fourth floor (Homage to Josquin)' arose when I was finishing a painting just before the closing time of the studios,
And I was so absorbed into details of lines and lights that I started wandering around if I could find some nice reflections in the studio.
In the winter I accidentally caught a lot of reflections without searching for it, but because summer was nearby, it was rare to find strong, interesting reflections. Walking between floors, I noticed what makes this building I work in unique, is that every floor has these works in the hallway that became little lost islands, that mark the sight and help recognize where you are. If the floor numbers and the works of art wouldn't be there, you wouldn't recognize very fast where you're located. It feels very liminal.
In between third and fourth floor I saw big figures floating in the window, and they looked familiar. The colors were a bit dimmed and around the figures, there was a scenery of the background in which the landscape of the outside shined through. Wouldn't it be nice to see what a work fused in another work would look like? It feels like a homage to all these lost and scattered artworks in between floors, and the place itself, in between.


This page was last updated on July 11, 2024