Lieve Hakkers (1996, Oldenzaal) produces paintings and drawings that deal with the language of the image, the power of the painterly image that slowly unfolds before our eyes. For a longer period of time she painted no figures, but once she began making her own (tempera) paint, they gradually found their way back into her work. Hakkers: “I’ve always painted and drawn the people around me, but just in passing. Many paintings, drawings and a few poems are about lovers and friends. There are mainly objects and an occasional figure, a face or a kiss.”
Hakkers works and lives in Amsterdam. Themes such as timelessness, transformation and self-expression play an important role in her work. The idea of a certain obscurity is a starting point for Hakkers. Through the suggestive codes of the imagination, that which is complex, self-indulgent and private takes on an enigmatic and mysterious meaning for some and an erotic meaning for others.
Hakkers does not make autobiographical paintings, although expressing her private experiences is unavoidable for her. How much self-expression is allowed or desired? When does the personal merge into the universal? In her work, Hakkers explores the intertwined themes of love and violence. Images of what surrounds her, painted in loose brush strokes – her studio, the kitchen table, the bedroom, lovers and friends – transform into ambiguous, partly figurative paintings. In the ‘sets’ of her work, a clash of historical and contemporary motifs can be observed. She says she finds beauty and depth in that confrontation.