FROZEN QUEEN
NATASJA KENSMIL
MICHAEL STEVENSON
11 March – 17 April 2010
FROZEN QUEEN
NATASJA KENSMIL
into the past and have bearing on the present. The past nourishes the present and shapes present society.
respects, they silence me. Rather than provoking the mind into asking questions, they quietly remind me of
Construction and destruction are firmly rooted in nature and mankind; they are the materials of evolution. I see
In your painting, are you constantly aware of the intangible in relation to our lives and history?
transparent in my work. In this way I examine the relationship between the present and the past. This movement is increasingly independent of time.
with its chaos and silence has more influence on me than I would like.
History consists of many layers, which I try to make
the urge for renewal and change. hunting and shouting through my head. The world
intangible earthly spiritual energies. But still they are
this movement of evolution as an essential process in
the space in which it lives and on which it looks out.
answers about a world we know and recognise.
Natasja Kensmil: I’m not constantly aware of the
fate of a culture can be made up from the history of
the silence that they command, they resist affirming
Historical events write a landscape of meanings. The
present is determined by factors that extend decades
discussion about your paintings is that, in many
realms that we cannot understand or comprehend. In
figures in my work because I am convinced that the
Michael Stevenson: A paradoxical start to this
Natasja Kensmil in conversation with Michael Stevenson
Earthly and unearthly powers
spirits and ancestors. Was this narrative in your mind when you were painting the works?
relationships between pictures and look at images for my thoughts to develop and change. From the archive
power but also by the way she held on to this power.
pictures.
Elizabeth I granted permission for the killing of witches and many innocent people. She was probably concerned about being accused of being a witch herself – she could have inherited her mother’s witchcraft. Another strong concern of hers was the suppression of the Catholic Church. These different factors instilled in her a fear of
extremism of our time. For example, in my painting
Desperate Land, from 2004, I was intuitively looking at the dark authority of religion and the way that people relate to religion and mysticism. I was playing with the idea that God is a human fabrication to prevent him from bursting into beastliness.
commissioned while she was alive. Whereas the traditional images celebrate power and pomposity, yours expose the anguished inner life and tragedy of their subject. Are you seeing through the grandiose illusion and laying bare the gore of historical glory?
of the holy war and everlasting racism. In this painting the figure of Rasputin could also be seen in relation to the brotherhoods of the Santísimo Cristo del Salvador in Spanish Valencia, Goya’s The Procession, the Ku Klux
believe that the soul lives on in the portraits of the
of the ghosts, the underworld … Then the appearance of
existence as we know it?
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portraits as postmortems.
Queen Elizabeth I came to me. I started to see her state
explored the realm of the living that overlaps with that
constructs of life and time that are fundamental to
Yes, you could see it like this. I use history or historical
escape their failed lives and to flee their loneliness. I
Do you see your paintings as collapsing the
dead. The spirits of the children wander; they try to
of infants. While painting these portraits I started to
which fascinates me.
Hope, fear, pain and the craving for power, violence, creation and destruction are inextricably entwined,
I started painting a series of postmortem portraits
as posthumous counterpoints to the official portraits
searched for the aestheticism of the horror, the horror
Klansmen of Philip Guston, or Abu Ghraib.
Your portraits of Queen Elizabeth I effectively serve
spellbound and gives them shape as a group. But I also
a severe and merciless sovereign.
the attraction of a figure that holds a group of followers
credulous people. I wanted to evoke a romantic image,
of Rasputin – a religious maniac who was surrounded by
losing the throne and even her life, and forced her to be
accused of being a witch and sentenced to death, yet
With this thought, I included in the painting a portrait
hunts occurred. Elizabeth’s mother, Anne Boleyn, was
from history, religion and mythology but also from the
the time that she ruled England, witchcraft and witch
in England, there was a dark side to her reign too. In
My imagery of fear and of anxiousness is derived
What do you think this might be?
am not only fascinated by her appearance as a great
I am convinced that there is something hidden in these
Although she was regarded as a loving queen, especially
Elizabeth I was one of the greatest queen figures. I
I have collected, I select some images that are related.
of old images, photographs, postcards and newspapers
correspondence in her fraught relationship with
I work alone, in seclusion. There I can see various
In this new series of four paintings reflecting on Queen Elizabeth I, your interest in the ethereal finds
My studio is full of images hanging on the wall, lying on the table and floor. I see it as a refuge in which
With a lot of fear I let myself be carried away by
thoughts. It is a combination of feeling and thinking. The finished work must shock and surprise me. Only when it
encapsulates a tragedy.
about, I think about it; however, I don’t ever have a full understanding of it.
but your imagery has a distinct and different sensibility that sets it apart from this tradition.
is constantly shifting in your work. Initially, the drawings served as sketches for the conception of
the Netherlands in the 1970s, and you have returned there a number of times.
between specific drawings and paintings diminishes, the paintings become more like drawings in their skeletal forms, and vice versa.
domain of my ancestors, nature is inhabited by dark and light creatures. Inanimate objects are considered to be living and to have a soul just like people, animals
images. In my recent work I wanted to transform the whimsicality of my drawings into my paintings.
darkness and of unknown nature. The belief in witchery has always been kept alive by my ancestors, and my
together to create a new image. By repeatedly painting or drawing away the image, traces are left through which a dialogue with the new image arises. It is a process of re-digesting material and ideas. All emotional areas must be diluted by cold analysis. Therefore the paintings become a sort of symbolic struggle. The motionless image must continually move in front of the eye and in the head. In the composition of your paintings, am I correct in thinking that you integrate symbolic elements in a manner that resists formal analysis of their individual meanings?
In recent years, your paintings have become increasingly monochromatic. Is this because you sense that colour is inappropriate for giving form to the suffering, torment and violence of power that the paintings illuminate? (As an aside, this is the explanation that the photographer David Goldblatt offered for his focus on black-and-white photography in the apartheid era.) In fact, in my work the flesh colour is made up of light blue gray, gray, yellow, light ochre, gray red brown, light pink. These colours are constantly mixed. In the recent paintings the very light and very dark colours catch the
must comprise layers of accumulated images, added
I’m not easily satisfied with an image. In the end, it
very thick. But I began to yearn for more transparent
subterranean thoughts, man’s deeply rooted fear of
parents, in their acceptance of dark and evil spirits.
In my older work the surface of the paintings was
universal. They evoke a hallucinatory world, born of
and insects. The belief in spirits and demons is almost
in their own realm. Yet, while the direct relationship
Yes, my Surinamese background plays a role. In the
a painting, whereas now they manifest as thoughts
The relationship between drawing and painting
ancestry? Your parents moved from Suriname to
Could this difference be related to your Surinamese
at first. While working, I sense what the painting is
unequivocally rich in references to European painting
In the end, it is an idea I had that I could not articulate
is finished do I see the meaning of it.
I work very much from my intuition and from a train of
incomprehension, loss and violence. The queen
Your painting style and subject matter are
It changes constantly … I never know where it will end.
of love, pride and glory, but also full of terror, disgust,
integrity of the image becomes clear to you?
I wanted to reflect on the psyche of the queen – full
her self-destructive, traumatic looks. In the portraits
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moment in the process of realising a painting when the unearthly.
I want to strengthen the duality of the earthly and the
my world.
alone in its internal conversations to ensure that it has a reason for existence. How do you reach this sudden
I want to explore and get a better understanding of
in the sense that I select the images that come to me.
make my work from an inner urge. My work is personal
You have said that a painting must be able to stand
I want to visualise universal characters.
Each painting must be animated. I feel that I should
of images within these icons to control my temper.
layers – of colour – just like history. I try to avoid the traditional flesh colours because they imply prejudice.
make me restless, and I have to find my own language
earthly and the spiritual. They are made up of many
image with different meanings. Images come to me and
the power of an image and the possibility of layering an
and under the skin unfold. The figures I paint in oil exist in an area between the
Symbolism and iconic images fascinate me – especially
eye at first and gradually the other colours hidden in
The Old 2009 Oil on canvas 150 x 150cm
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Hydra 2009 Oil on canvas 230 x 200cm
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11
Elizabeth I 2009 Oil on canvas 200 x 200cm
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15
17
Living Ancestors 2009 Oil on canvas 260 x 140cm
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(2006/2005). She won the Philip Morris art prize in 2003.
of Oregon and Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA
Contemporary Artists from the Netherlands, University
of Aggression, National Gallery, Macedonia (2007); and
d’Art Contemporain, Sigean, France (2007); Innocent
Néerlandais, Paris (2008/2006); Sister Sledge, LAC – Lieu
Into Drawing, Schloss Moyland, Germany, and Institut
Black is Beautiful, Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam (2008);
deflecting attention, Michael Stevenson, Cape Town (2008);
Netherlands (2009); Disguise: The art of attracting and
include Stressed Spaces, KW_14, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the
the Cobra Museum, Amstelveen (2003). Group exhibitions
Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam (2007 and 2009), and
Ateliers. Her most recent solo shows have taken place at
Rietveld Academie, followed by postgraduate studies at De
continues to live and work there. She studied at the Gerrit
Natasja Kensmil was born in 1973 in Amsterdam and
Biography
Printing Hansa Print, Cape Town
Photography and image repro Mario Todeschini
Editor Sophie Perryer | Design Gabrielle Guy
Michael Stevenson Buchanan Building, 160 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock 7925 Cape Town, South Africa Tel +27 (0)21 462 1500 | info@michaelstevenson.com www.michaelstevenson.com
All works courtesy of Galerie Paul Andriesse, Amsterdam
Back cover image Hydra, 2009, detail
Front cover image The Old, 2009, detail
Catalogue no 49 March 2010
MICHAEL STEVENSON