Botanical Interlude
Jasper Hagenaar
3 September - 9 October, 2021
‘ Don’t speak, I know what you’re saying’
1995, No Doubt from the album Tragic Kingdom
In the late days of summer, coinciding with his solo exhibition at Centraal Museum Utrecht, Althuis Hofland Fine Arts proudly presents Botanical Interlude a solo exhibition by Jasper Hagenaar (1977, NL).
The exhibition brings together a series of paintings celebrating the sphere of carefree summer days, somewhere in the 90’s, when MTV repeatedly played ‘Peaches’ by The Presidents of the United States and ‘Don’t speak’ by No Doubt. Detailed depictions of fruits awaiting there moment to drop, iconic botanically inspired fabrics, and thick green leaves, and bright coloured flowers reflecting shimmering light, are caught in a colour scheme reminiscent of decoulered photo’s, evoking a beautiful memory of a summer from bygone days.
In his work Hagenaar is in a constant search for the vividness of a static image, painting a repetitive yet slightly different pattern of subjects, such as vases, abstract sculptures, body parts and plants. Subjects that only have a supportive role opposed to the interplay between form, and colour that suggests the incidence of the light, and determines the mood of the artist.
A painted state of the mind that can be felt, but never seen. Similar to music.
“ Music is generally important to me, and I always have music on while working. It influences my own mood, and with that the mood of the work I create. I named the exhibition Botanical interlude referring to an instrumental piece of classical music. When translating the two exhibitions to music, the gallery exhibition would be an instrumental piece (an interlude of sorts) and the museum exhibition a cantata.”
Jasper 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. Recently his work was on view at – Rendez-Vous met Frans Hals, at the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem (2018). Currently his solo exhibition ‘Weerschijn’ is on view at Centraal Museum Utrecht.