This week my guest is the Dutch figurative artist, Maeve Van Klaveren.
Through her practice of drawing, the artist manages to touch the materials and textures of the visible world as closely as possible with great dexterity. This realism accorded to the materials, to the representations of her models and to her choice of tight framing, means that at first glance one would relate her work to that of the art of photography. A medium that the artist integrates into the stages of her creative process. This often results in tight framing, precise and intimate gestures where the representation of clothing always has a role to play. They translate and embrace this delicate gesture.
If the selection of works that I have chosen to present to you this week does not a priori reveal the identity of the characters, it is nevertheless a great work of portrait drawer. Through the gestures of the hands, from these points of contact, the artist grasps each of these beings with great sensitivity and subtlety. The hands tell, betray, unite, they are the extension of the interiority of being and never lie. Maeve van Klaveren has chosen them as the privileged medium to translate by means of her technique, her personal visions about feelings and relationships.
Through her practice of drawing, the artist manages to touch the materials and textures of the visible world as closely as possible with great dexterity. This realism accorded to the materials, to the representations of her models and to her choice of tight framing, means that at first glance one would relate her work to that of the art of photography. A medium that the artist integrates into the stages of her creative process. This often results in tight framing, precise and intimate gestures where the representation of clothing always has a role to play. They translate and embrace this delicate gesture.
If the selection of works that I have chosen to present to you this week does not a priori reveal the identity of the characters, it is nevertheless a great work of portrait drawer. Through the gestures of the hands, from these points of contact, the artist grasps each of these beings with great sensitivity and subtlety. The hands tell, betray, unite, they are the extension of the interiority of being and never lie. Maeve van Klaveren has chosen them as the privileged medium to translate by means of her technique, her personal visions about feelings and relationships.
Maeve van Klaveren in front of her artworks
Could you introduce yourself?
From the moment I can remember I draw. This did not immediately activated me to become an artist. It was the way to best express myself and I really enjoyed doing it. It was normal for me.
I was fascinated with fashion and got accepted at the fashion academy. Not long after graduation I started working for the textile artist Claudy Jongstra where I worked for a long period. In these years my sense of color and material has developed more and more. It became extra clear to focus on my superior skill.
I gradually got to know great artists who used drawing in their artwork, which made me realize that this could be a way of putting ideas and feelings on paper. At one point this feeling was so strong that I quit my job and went for it completely.
A part of your artworks depict some close-up on hands, arms and particularly on the connection and interaction between people. This gives great privacy to your subjects without ever revealing the identity of the characters. What do you want to reveal or highlight in those scenes?
To depict being human as completely as possible with all its feelings. It is my personal story of how I view feelings, relationships …… ..desires, connection… ..hope and despair. I try to represent timeless universal emotion, as it were.
This work(s) originated at the beginning of the corona, its disruptive effect. What you saw happening to people around you. The need to keep contact….! It’s about human longings and the power of a hug.
I think it also tells something about the time we are in now. How will we be able to be more connected with each other again (literally and figuratively). Joining us, personally but also together. Don't exclude anyone, think about each other and support each other.
Hopefully with a clearer idea of who we want to be and more understanding of our commonality with each other.
RECONNECTED, (30x30), soft pastel, pastel pencil and watercolor on paper, 2020
You make realistic depiction as a photograph could do. Is the photographic medium step in your creative process ? Could you speak about your creative process that you use to do ?
I use the camera to depict what I want to portray in my drawings. The composition is important. With the camera I can focus very well on the crops/cutouts I want to make.
I focus on the materiality of the drawing. These elements I work out with the use of drawing material that can portray this in the best way, with a preference for pastel and watercolor.
What you see in my works is reality based. Something intrigues me and I incorporate it into my work. It is about concentration - away from fragmentation - presence in the picture, a fragment in time capture in a drawing.
In some of your creations you depict someone who is bringing flowers put in a vase. We couldn’t see his identity either. But, in the contrary of the other series, your interest is not accentuated on the interaction between people but on someone with an object and nature. Could you speak about those artworks?
Flowers evoke all kinds of emotions love, hope, faith, peace, joy, happiness, tranquility and nostalgia. There are so many different ways in which flowers are used. Flowers make you happy. Of course it also refers to paradise. For me it refers to the nostalgia of the homely, home, bring in nature.
It is the subtle emotions that goes with it that I want to portray visually. This can be done by applying certain themes, but also in composition and / or material use. The drawings can therefore be read in several ways.
BEFORE THE STORM (40x50), soft pastel, pastel pencil, charcoal and watercolor on paper, 2021.
I notice that you create with a palette who comes often: the green, the purple, the black and the white are really present in those series. Do they have a particularly signification to you?
We see and understand color in our daily life.
We respond to color with our feelings, one more than another.
I use color to represent the world around me, but also to give meaning beyond the visible. There is so much more color to bring in than you perceive in everyday life. In nature there is so much more than green, there is so much more in the skin than pink…. It is made up of shades of many layers of color. In my work I alternate between structure in color areas and hyperfocus in the details, layer upon layer upon layer.
I often work with the idea - will the next drawing be a dark or a light one. What feelings are involved in the work. In that moment I make a choice for color.
BETWEEN MY ARMS, (30x30), soft pastel, pastel pencil, charcoal and watercolor on paper, 2020
TOGETHER, soft pastel, pastel pencil, charcoal and watercolor on paper, 15x21 cm, 2020.
What are your main artistic inspirations?
My surroundings - I like to observe, see things in daily life for example a curtain that has just been opened or closed. Literally the movement of it. Present and past, everyday reality becomes another world on its own.
Listen a lot to music, the combination of instruments, the human voice and the lyrics together give me a lot of inspiration to portray feelings in a certain moment.
Walk through nature, see all the colors and layers.
Be with friends and family and look how they interact with each other. It’s in the little subtle emotions. And I have a great weakness or call it a love for fabric materials that play an important role in my drawings. It is the link to my education, years of working for a textile artist, but for me it also tells something about TIME. In this way inspiration present themselves at different moments. Looking at contemporary artists, but also references from art history. This is something that can be different every time. I do not have a one way working method. It's an intuitive way of working that I love.
Do you have any current or future projects to share with us?
I go into my studio every day and draw. At this moment working on my Flower drawings. A lot is online these days… Some of my drawings will be shown at Works on Paper an online platform based in NL. And some other online things pending…
WAITING FOR YOU (15x21 cm), soft pastel, pastel pencil and watercolor on paper, 2020
To continue to admire her artworks and to be aware of her news, go to her website and Instagram account :