When Jasper Hagenaar stood in front of the contemporary looking portret of Maria by Rafael at the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, he realized that the conditions for a good painting haven't actually changed through the centuries. Hagenaar: 'being a painter you work within a tradition that you can adapt in two different manners. As source or nuisance."
Over the last decade Hagenaar has shifted his use of medium from large scale canvasses to small wooden panels and canvases, and simultaneously intensi ed his subjects by using the parameters of the still life to frame them.
Hagenaar works with both oil and acrylic paint, and most often the depicted derives from found images or small scale three dimensional models, pre-fabricated by the artist within his studio.
His melancholic use of colours and brushstrokes enhance the painted matter; often related to the imaginative power of boyhood, nostalgia, and slightly sinister mis-en-scènes.
Within this exhibition Hagenaar displays a series of paintings portraying vases; projecting either a scape within the sloping surface of the vase or focussing on the possibilities of its (de-)construc- ted form. The tension between the vase as a concrete object and the depicted narrative on top, lets the paintings exceed the neutral representation.
Jasper Hagenaar (1977, NL) has had many group and solo exhibitions within The Netherlands and abroad. His most recent exhibition - Rendez-Vous met Frans Hals, at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem.
Hagenaar has been an artist in residence at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (2004–05). In 2012 he was the recipient of Dutch Royal Award for Painting (jury and public award). Hagenaar was selected by Anton Henning for a year long mentoring trajectory (2016-17), funded by the Mondriaan foundation. The exchange of ideas, sources of inspiration and experience was the main aim of the project.
From 2011 Hagenaar collaborated with Jeanine Hofland and exhibited within her previous gallery. Ornis Althuis started working with Hagenaar in 2016 after Hofland closed her gallery.