Beyond grief Painting

Annemarie Busschers (1970) lives and works in The Netherlands. She received her formal training at the Academie Minerva, the Fine Arts Academy at Hanze University Groningen, in art and graphic techniques. Busschers' search and finds of her subjects aren't random. She chooses just as her personal life develops. She started making portraits after the birth of her son, and after that, she focused on children of friends and acquaintances. But she kept concentrated on the skin. Later she involved grown-ups as well in her work. In these "˜mature' works, special features, acquired during life, started to emerge, and were elaborated on, in her paintings. She demonstrated again her own fascination with skin. The textures and shades, irregularities, birthmarks, scars, imperfections are all replicated in unabashed detail. She takes photographs of her models and studies the photographs in painstaking detail. After that, she starts to "˜construct' the face anew. They are painted, but they are also constructed in layers. Busschers' portraits are built with a variety of things: acrylic paint, pencil, pastel, epoxy, wood, wax, paper, felt and even linen on the canvas. The result is far more powerful and textured than a portrait of mere pencil or paint or pastels on canvas or paper. Her works emerge like scientific, almost minute studies. Therefore, she only works in big formats. The received appreciation resulted into a shift towards, as one might say, working on commission: portraying more or less famous persons. After some time, Busschers concluded that person and status hindered the making of a portrait. Historically, portraiture has been subject to working on commission, status and expectations of the portrayed. Independency, which Busschers regards for artists as indispensible, became threatened. Therefore, after a few years, she chose again for the anonymous portraits in which she autonomously could use faces for her work. Ultimately, she portrayed herself. In a difficult, emotional period, she could do nothing else, but painting her own feelings, emotions and frame of mind on the canvas. That resulted in some very moving paintings. Until recently, Busschers worked again with, for the public, unknown faces. But the stories, illnesses or deformaties that accompany these people are important and form an essential part of her fascination. She doesn't overdraw, though.