Over Maaike Kramer

( 1986 )

Maaike creates works that exist between monumental and conceptual materials and techniques; the space itself, structures within that space, concrete, tarp, metal, construction versus pencil, marker, A4 paper, wood, and sketches.

She selects materials that can borrow each other’s qualities. By mixing and reshaping their properties, she creates works that are never what they appear to be. For example, she works with powders; pigments, pastel and pencil because these transfer onto other materials like concrete. Concrete is a hard, monumental material that starts out as a powder and doesn’t take shape until you add water in a cast. Then, concrete takes on the properties of the cast.

By combining monumental visual cues with conceptual ones, she tries to create the option of a different interpretation and in the process, she creates her own folly.