19 october 2022, Oscar van Gelderen
The studio of... Loes Koomen
What does the ideal studio look like? How much time does an artist spend in their studio? Is it a sacred place? This week in 'The Artist’s studio' it’s Loes Koomen, whose solo exhibition 'Blow Up' is on display at De Wael 15 in Antwerp until 13 November.
Do you visit your studio every day?
I am in my studio almost every day of the week. For a year now, this has been a large space next to our house in Oosterbeek. In Amsterdam I had a studio in Loods 6 for ten years, where I was working most of the time.
Studio in Loods6 Amsterdam (2021), working on The Yellow Series
What time do you leave for your studio, and how: on foot, by bicycle, public transport or car?
I usually get up between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., and the first thing I do when I get downstairs is take a look at the studio: take a look at the work I'm working on. Then I have breakfast in the kitchen and then I step into the studio between 08.30 and 09.00.
Do you hold on to certain rituals in your studio? Music or silence?
When the sun is out, I like to start with a coffee outside, in front of the studio; doors open, birds singing, I let the work I'm doing sink in and think about the next step. Then I answer my email, look around on social media, and get to work.
There is always music on, preferably a bit of musical wallpaper. My music tastes are really all over the place, I have more affinity with the right song at the right time than playing an entire album by an artist – that takes too much attention and distracts me, just like listening to podcasts. S Sometimes I put on StuBru's De Tijdloze, radio FIP, or an eclectic Spotify playlist with songs from Bowie to Beyonce, Carlos Cardell, Rufus Wainright, Mendelssohn, Nino Rota, Hozier, Billy Eilish... anything really.
Studio in Oosterbeek (2022) with the Blow Up Series in the background
How important is light to you?
Light is perhaps most important to me. My studio in Amsterdam was beautiful: large and high, but had four huge windows facing south, through which the light changed continuously, which is rather unfortunate for a painter's studio.
A lot of daylight enters my current studio, which is filtered through tall trees. As this causes the light to turn slightly green, I’ve installed daylight LED panels on the ceiling over the full length of my painting wall. They compensate for the green light and provide reliable light all year round.
I like it when some sunlight enters the studio without hindering the painting. When the sun shines brightly, but doesn't enter the room I'm in, I feel quite locked in.
What does your work process look like? Do you work everywhere and all the time or does work only commence the moment you enter your studio?
Thinking about work never stops, I'm always switched on. I try to pick out the ideas that arise somewhere in the back of my mind when I'm in the studio. There is a certain disorderly order there, so that I often switch between tidy and pleasant chaos. Depending on the stage my work is at, I either start sketching – I prefer to sketch my ideas with a digital pen on an ancient computer – or I continue painting when I know roughly what the next step will be.
I spend a lot of time on the sketching phase. Ideas that I work out can go in all directions, until a certain disharmony is reached that ensures that the tension I'm looking for enters the work.
When I start painting, all those decisions have to be made again, since paint and canvas size have their own laws, but I can't work without that precise preliminary study. If I feel that I need to take some distance, I start to mess around, do some hammering here in the studio or dig in the garden, build a path that I later remove, drive a pole into the ground, saw off a branch, preferably physical work, the more useless the better, then space is freed up for a fresh look, for new ideas.
Because you can walk into nature here, I also walk regularly. All things I was looking forward to before our move from the city to a place with space all around.
How much time do you spend on average per day in your studio?
On average I spend seven to eight hours per day there, with breaks to rummage around or eat something. Sometimes I read something in a book or the newspaper. One, sometimes two days a week I am there a little shorter, then I take a long walk with husband JP Maes, see friends or go to the city or an exhibition.
Is your studio a sacred place?
Oh, sacred is too big a word, but I can confirm that the studio is my favourite place to be. This holds for both the previous studio in Amsterdam and the studio here, two completely different places. I feel privileged to have so much space and to be able to mess around unseen until I feel like it's going somewhere.
Do you receive visits there; collectors, curators or fellow artists?
They certainly drop by, thankfully they still do since we moved to this village. It is nice to be able to talk about the work with interested parties, who follow what you do. When I am still searching, I keep the doors closed for visitors, because then I am sensitive to the judgment of others; a look or question can cause doubt even before I know whether or not I am on the right track.
Overview of her studio in Oosterbeek
What is the most beautiful studio you have ever seen?
Sometimes I spot a gem on Instagram. The Porthmeor Studios in St Ives, where Francis Bacon has worked, have large windows with an amazing view of the ocean, and with beautiful light (on the other side of the water is New York). Maybe it's so beautiful there that you don't get to work at all. Willem de Kooning's last studio also looks like a dream place in photos: large, high, light, in the middle of nature.
What does the ideal studio look like?
A place that feels right and inspires, so that you can transcend yourself in your work, and where daily life is so intertwined with work that everything flows together in a natural way.
Loes Koomen
