Katinka Lampe
Katinka Lampe’s practice approaches portraiture from a contemporary perspective, seeking to expand its relevance by interrogating the cultural and historical baggage it carries. Her depiction of people serves as a starting point to explore social issues such as identity and human relationships, while also advancing her exploration of the language of painting itself.
Lampe’s models, often neighbours, friends, and family members, assume roles and poses dictated by the artists and inspired by magazines and old master paintings. This process allows the artist to distance herself from the personalities of her subjects and move beyond mere representation. Instead, Lampe is interested in the ongoing search for the tipping point between attraction and repulsion, as well as between realism and abstraction. Precisely rendered details are juxtaposed with flat areas, and the paint is meticulously controlled throughout the process, with backgrounds referring only to themselves. The virtuosic brushstroke is deliberately avoided, as Lampe employs a large brush in a final layer to remove any overly personal touches from the depiction. It is through this approach to the medium that Lampe questions the role of the artist and her own gaze in a world saturated with representation, offering to the viewer possibilities rather than solutions.
Katinka Lampe (b. 1963 Tilburg, Netherlands) lives and works in Rotterdam. She studied at the Academy of Art and Design St. Joost (Hertogenbosch, Netherlands). Recent exhibitions include: ‘My Frame Your Frame’, LeeAhn Gallery, Seoul (2023);‘Anima Mundi’, Workplace Gallery, London (2022); ‘Do You Like Me Now?’, Roof-A, Rotterdam (2021); ‘Bubble’, Elizabeth Houston Gallery, New York (2021); ‘Slow’, Ron Mandos Gallery, Amsterdam (2020); ‘Anonymity’, LeeAhn Gallery, Daegu, South Korea (2020); ‘Instadentity’, Galerie Les filles du calvaire, Paris (2019); ‘Let’s Change History’, Elizabeth Houston Gallery, New York (2018); ‘In Times of Bigotry’, Ron Mandos Gallery, Amsterdam (2017); ‘Slash’, Galerie Les filles du calvaire, Paris (2016); ‘Into the light’, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem (2015); ‘In the In Between’, Art Rotterdam, Ron Mandos Gallery, Amsterdam (2015) amongst others.