Untitled (Self-portraits)

A mask-like face looms. Calyxes, winding stems and leaves transform into hands and feelers. Pistils, stamens and seedpods surround the head, like a carnival headdress or hanging hair. The composition is concentric. As such, she brings the individual shapes and the striking colour contrasts together in unity. And what energy! An almost palpable movement through centrifugal force, through the use of diagonals and swirling spirals, through the dotty patterns and wavy lines, through the extreme colour contrasts red-green, orange-blue, purple-yellow. The eyes hold their penetrating stare: sad or frightened, empty or thoughtful. With a sure-fire touch she knows how to vary the expressions. These are portraits of suffering that Ank van Pagée made of herself. They can also clearly serve as metaphor for the suffering of ‘man’.