Zelfportret 2010 nr. 47 2010

Curator: This drawing, rendered in 2010 by Philip Akkerman, is titled "Zelfportret 2010 nr. 47," which, of course, translates to "Self-Portrait 2010 No. 47". What strikes you initially? Editor: The most arresting detail is undeniably the field of bright, almost buzzing yellow that obscures one eye. It feels like a raw assertion amidst the otherwise muted tones. A mask, perhaps? Or maybe some blinding insight? Curator: Interesting interpretation! But let us consider Akkerman's established style and structural approach, this is a formal manipulation more than an emblematic reference. Note how he reduces the face into geometrical shapes using an economy of line. See the clear asymmetry in the pink strands acting as 'hair', framing and offsetting the classical facial features beneath. Editor: Still, that yellow… it demands symbolic reading. Throughout history, yellow is an intensely charged colour - royalty, enlightenment but also treachery and disease. Is Akkerman hinting at the multi-faceted nature of self-representation itself? The use of an unconventional bright yellow can evoke the sense of looking or being looked at with jaundiced eye. Curator: One might consider the overall drawing a kind of exercise or meditation on a familiar theme of self, rendered with ever-so-slight variations over many repetitions, allowing the structure to emerge. Akkerman gives the artistic process a new twist through these various perspectives of himself as he uses color in an expressive way to fill in the self-portrait. It almost reveals its constructive bones with pink hairs, a unique and visually disarming gesture! Editor: Indeed. Viewed that way, even the obscuring yellow takes on a formal weight, serving less as pure symbol and more as pure artistic form: adding a new aesthetic component to a known figure as the drawing comes alive in your mind as you begin to ponder its mysteries, not so dissimilar to the artist at the moment it was produced. Curator: Precisely, by bringing together form and composition, Akkerman achieves an unsettling image that speaks to a different view point in self-perception, thus offering the observer more than just face value for evaluation. Editor: Yes, leaving me, in fact, quite curious to see his other forty-six takes on his image from the same year. It gives an interesting insight, wouldn’t you agree?