An Interview With Jasper Hagenaar

Jasper Hagenaar's paintings explore the passage of time through the lens of memory and nostalgia. He creates a sense of a world beyond the surface of his figurative images, inviting viewers to connect with their own personal experiences and memories. By subtly transforming the painting process, Hagenaar imbues his work with a subjective and dreamlike quality, emphasizing the emotional impact of memory over literal representation.

Essentially, Hagenaar aims to evoke a sense of "experiencing by seeing" rather than simply illustrating reality. His paintings are not meant to be literal depictions, but rather to convince the viewer of the power of memory and the subjective nature of our perception of the world.

Can you tell us a little bit about you?

I am an artist from the Netherlands. Painting is my main practice, but I also make three dimensional work occasionally. I lived with my wife and two children in the city of Utrecht for over 20 years but moved to the countryside a few years ago. We renovated a house on a dyke and built a studio at the back. I graduated from art school some twenty years ago and was a resident artist at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam afterward. Those two years were formative and I consider this working period the real start of my career. I have shown my paintings in solo and group exhibitions in the Netherlands and abroad and I am currently represented by the Amsterdam-based gallery Althuis Hofland Fine Arts. I grew up in a typical Dutch seventies neighbourhood, as you can find all over the country. The memories of the search for ways to escape from the dullness and uniformity of this place as a child have been an important subject of my work for a long time. I used to read many comic books and historical novels while dreaming about becoming an explorer, archeologist, or artist. This melancholic, escapist mood has never left me since. Today, It is still the main subject of my work.

How has your process developed over time and are there any new themes that you've been exploring in your work?

One of the advisors at the Rijksakademie once remarked I was a Calvinist with a romantic soul. I would describe my way of working as meticulous. I like to follow certain routines and have pretty high-quality standards regarding my paintings. I don’t mind redoing a painting several times if I am not completely satisfied. This can become somewhat of a problem nowadays because the longer I am working as an artist the harder it gets to be happy with the result.. I have always had a keen interest in the materiality of the painting process, not only the paint itself but also primers and supports. Last year, I switched back to linen, but for a long time, I have worked mainly on panels or paper on panels. I prepared them with my homemade rabbit glue gesso ground. I liked researching the different formulas and trying them out. Also, my quest for the perfect paper took me a few years. I used mainly grey tones and reduced colours for years, but recently, this changed. I was done with the greys and wanted to explore the possibilities of painting melancholy in a bright and clear palette. My main theme stayed more or less the same, but the way I depicted this subject in my paintings changed through the years. From painted vitrines to vases and fruit paintings. This year I have made several paintings of lovers. Although the idea came about in a similar way as other works it felt like a fresh new subject. I was wondering if it was possible to make paintings about love and lovemaking without being raunchy or cheesy.

Your work seems deeply rooted in the concepts of time and memory. Could you elaborate on how you use these concepts to create a sense of nostalgia and reflection in your paintings?

When I started painting my childhood dreams were the main subject of my work. I painted subjects like astronauts, cowboys, and UFOs for instance. Grey tones were important because like a photo slowly fading to grey, I wanted to make clear I was painting about my memories. Through the years the subjects became less directly connected to these childhood dreams and the general mood, or atmosphere became the main topic of my work. I want my paintings to make the viewer part of this. The fruit series, for example, started from a memory I had of a camping trip in Slovakia. We had pitched our tent in an orchard. At that moment it was just a lovely place and we enjoyed our stay. But a few years later I realized, the memory of me lying in the grass, looking up through the apple trees, was one of these rare moments I had been completely happy. This is what time can do. So, when I started this series I wanted to capture the light the way I remembered. A yellow late afternoon summer light with strong shadows. I wanted these paintings to bring me back to the way I felt at that place at that moment in time. If it were apples, oranges, or any other fruit was not important to me. Colour and lighting are the most important ways to add the atmosphere I am looking for, but I also use more subtle ways. The framing of the image for instance, is very important. I like to zoom in closely on my subjects and leave out certain information deliberately. As a viewer, you sense there is a bigger world outside the picture frame and are forced to make up your part of the story from your own memories.

What role does the viewer's own frame of reference play in interpreting your work?

As I mentioned before I hope to bring the viewer into a certain mood through my paintings. But I don’t want to be too compelling. I use certain references and the ways mentioned before. I try to touch on connecting feelings, but sometimes they are just not there. This is why some people like my work and others don’t. And I am fine with that. But it is always nice when you hear back from people that they did get it.

Where do you draw inspiration for your paintings? Are there any specific artists, books, or films that influence your work?

Inspiration can come to me in a lot of different ways. It can be a book I read, a certain scene of a movie I watched, the title of a song, and sometimes just something I notice while walking to the store. It has to trigger a certain emotion or connect to a certain memory. So it starts with an idea. Then, I try out some ways to visualize this idea. For this I turn to a vast collection of imagery, both digital as printed. Next to that I have quite a large vintage lifestyle, interior, and art magazine collection. Some of them are only just ten years old but already belong visually to another era. I am intrigued by these specific characteristics and use them in my paintings when needed. There are certain artists, like Velazquez and Singer-Sargent I return to because I keep intrigued by their technical skills and the amazing works they have made. But also contemporary painters like Victor Man, Sophie von Hellerman, and Anton Henning. It is not that I am directly inspired by them, but I always get a strong desire to start painting again when I see their work.

Is there one piece or project you are especially proud of?

Back in 2021, I had the opportunity to exhibit in the Central Museum in Utrecht. I decided to paint a new series based on early modernist works from the museum collection. The room was a complicated one with glass walls and stained glass outside windows. In the end, I designed a whole new architecture for the room. Even the coloring of the walls matched the paintings and it worked great. I am still very proud of the result. It is a pity that only a limited amount of visitors saw it because of COVID restrictions.

Did you always know you wanted to be an artist, or did your passion evolve over time?

Becoming an artist had always been on my mind, just like becoming an astronaut, or archaeologist. I first chose the latter and studied history at the university for one year. But I found out it was mainly literature study and got bored, so I switched to art school. I am still happy I chose this new path because it only gets more interesting through the years and I have never been bored with it yet.

Have you seen any exhibitions or artworks recently that sparked new ideas for your own work?

Last summer I saw a solo exhibition of Wilhelm Sasnal at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. It was not a massive presentation, just one big room. The show was all over the place in a good way and I loved it. The exhibition reassured me it is possible to make a good exhibition with very diverse works. From narrative figurative paintings to almost abstract ones, he held it together perfectly. It is something I am thinking a lot about regarding my own painting.

What is your favourite book or film and why?

There are a few books I keep rereading. Sometimes only a chapter or a single part, sometimes the whole book. Girlfriend in a coma by Douglas Coupland, Norwegian wood and The wind up bird chronicles, by Haruki Murakami and De wereld gaat aan vlijt ten onder, by Dutch novelist Max Dendermonde. The atmosphere instead of the story is the real subject of these books. And all of them are strongly connected to a certain stage of my life.

Are you working on any projects you are particularly excited about?

I am in the middle of the preparations for an upcoming solo exhibition at my gallery. It will open in a few weeks. I am making a series of paintings about the sunset, without showing an actual sunset. Fading evening light and lengthy shadows connect the individual works. After a bit of a lull two weeks ago things are progressing smoothly again and I am looking forward to installing the show.

Jasper Hagenaar - Instagram

Jasper Hagenaar - Website

Images by Lotte Stekelenburg