Born 1957, The Netherlands

 The self-portrait takes up an extraordinary position in most artists’ oeuvres. Traditionally they are rare depictions of the state of an artist at a certain point in its life. For Akkermans however, his self is his sole subject. Using all the means the history of art has to offer him he paints his current condition, over and over again. Allowing us to follow his interior and exterior transformations, Akkermans works can be seen as both a visual diary and a momento mori.

Already certain of his subject, Akkerman is free to focus on his technique. Almost methodically he recreates the image of himself using the wealth of painterly techniques made available through the whole of arts’ history. Ranging in style from hyperrealism to abstraction and the intentionally naïve, his portraits display as much of himself as they do of art itself. The ageing of man and art are combined into a philosophical collage of forms.

 At this point in his career, Akkerman has no need for a mirror. The general shape of his own figure has become the instinctive starting point for his exploration of the styles of his artistic predecessors. Still, after thousands of self-portraits he persists to discover himself.

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