Catalogue Beyond Tradition

Marijn Akkermans makes large drawings and collages with pencil, ink and gouache in many shades of grey. Nothing is what it seems in these surreal scenes full of archetypes: men in suits and ties, women in flared dresses and children with a teddy bear.

The scenes breathe tension and discomfort: the characters often find themselves in threatening or even aggressive situations in relationship to each other or the spectator. What is going on here? Who is good and who is evil? Even though the work of Akkermans is unmistakably figurative, it does have a certain abstract quality: a lot is left to the imagination.

Marijn Akkermans (r) at the opening of Beyond Tradition