Zelfportret 2005 nr. 138 2005

Philip Akkerman made this self-portrait, number 138 in 2005, using pencil on paper. It’s all about process. You can see every mark, every little decision, adding up to this sort of, almost comical, face. The texture is amazing – look at the way he builds up the forms with tiny, hatched lines. It’s like he’s sculpting the face with pencil strokes, turning his head into this softly shaded landscape of skin and bone. And those eyes, heavy with detail, make you wonder what’s going on inside that head. The whole thing feels incredibly intimate, like Akkerman is letting us into his private world, one pencil line at a time. He kind of reminds me of Redon, who similarly transformed the possibilities of pencil to depict dreamlike states. Akkerman's choice to work serially makes this head just one idea explored, questioned and re-worked, as if one picture is never enough.