Interview
In anticipation of Bobbi Essers’ debut UK solo show, The World at Our Command, we hear from the artist in her own words about the development of her style, the essential power of friendship, and the harshest thing her art teacher ever said to her.
Hi Bobbi! Firstly, I’ve heard a lot about your studio moving around. How’s all that going?
Horribly. I’ve been going back and forth to Amsterdam to talk with people, and hopefully I will find something permanent soon, but it hasn’t happened yet.
Has this impacted your preparation for the show?
I had to rethink where to paint, because my Masters ended in June and I had to leave my studio at the beginning of July but I hadn’t finished the paintings. I had to find a quick solution, but couldn’t find a house, so ended up crashing with a friend for three weeks. I was painting every day up until 4am to finish everything. I was so stressed during this period, not getting any sleep, and I was thinking can I even do this? It’s too much. I mean, in the end I did it, so that proves I can do anything I want!
Kudos to your friend for putting up with that! It feels like that is testament to the themes of your work, which is grounded in close relationships and intimate connections with others. You’ve clearly worked out a highly developed and personal frame of reference for yourself. How did that start and where did that come from?
My interest in friendship started when I was quite young. As a kid I always read books about friendship and adventure, or kids climbing out the window at night to run off together into the forest. I always thought that was something that I couldn’t wait to have, but I had kind of strict parents so was never allowed to do things at night. But I always felt one day I’m going to find people to do that with, which is why friendship is so important in my work. It’s something I always dreamt of having, so when I finally found it, with people so aligned with me and wanting to do the things you want to do, it was like a dream.
Did you find those people at school or university? When did that realisation happen?
It started when I moved to Utrecht to do my bachelor’s degree in fine art, meeting friends interested in the same music and party scene. I ended up meeting my best friend at a concert because we both didn’t know anyone else going.
I painted in a totally different way before that. It was very feminist, but in a clichéd way about periods and period blood. At a certain point my teacher asked me, “What are you telling the world that isn’t already said or that other people don’t do better?” And that really shook me to my core. I had no idea what to paint after that, so I started painting my friends, just to do something that I liked and it progressed from there.
I did a series of portraits that were just people’s shoes. I saw how much shoes can say about a person, or the pose of their feet. Even at that point their faces were not so important for me, it was more about a sense of comfort.
How did you then develop to the point of overlaying images over each other?
We got into skateboarding, and at night in the skatepark I would take pictures with flash photography, which is a look I’ve always liked but of course it was also necessary in the dark. Painting from these photographs, putting figures illuminated with very harsh flash against dark backgrounds was a major step in my development. I was doing this in my fourth year, and again a teacher told me, “This is good, but I feel you can still say more.”
That was what pushed me to see the two pictures in one painting, and that turned into overlaying pictures. I think my style now is still different to how it was then, but it started there.
In my Master’s, I then explored what else I could do with this idea of overlaying things. How many images could I use, in what format, and what size they could be? For example, the three-metre work in the exhibition, also called The World at Our Command, I wanted something that’s towering over you, making the two people that hug in the painting so big that they are godly, something I think is beautiful. This is not something I could have done two years ago though, so it’s thanks to a growth of seeing, understanding what I can do with it and how the compositions can work.
How do you approach a composition of that scale?
I make the sketches on my phone, so they’re all quite small actually. I have an app on which you can collage things. Sometimes when I have a lot of new photos, it’s easy to make ten sketches at once. But sometimes, for example the mix and match paintings I did for you guys, that was difficult in the end. In collage things must work together. Sometimes I have a picture that I love so much but there’s nothing that matches it and I have to save it for another time, when I find something that will fit it perfectly.
Let’s talk about the “mix-and-match” works. They’re interchangeable, as in they can be hung together in any configuration the viewer chooses. I’ve never seen paintings like these before, how did that come about? And how much thought do you have to put into a composition that you ultimately don’t have final control over?
I guess it’s just about letting go. It started because I had all these frames in the same size that I knew I wanted to do something with. The idea was to create one work from these separate frames, but when I was trying to see which ones would work together, suddenly “boom!”, one of them connected perfectly at the arm. It was completely coincidental.
I think it’s really fun, and involves the viewer in the creation of these fragmented memories. I think people also like to have a bit of power. They can have it if they want.
Talking of power, what does the show title mean to you?
It’s saying that we decide our own world. We all have an element of control over our lives, constructing it out of fragments of those closest to us. It’s about choosing the community in which we live; I guess our friends really are our chosen families.
What’s the importance of realism for you? Why do you want to keep people interested in painting?
When I look at paintings, realism is not actually something I am interested in seeing. But I like it for my work, because it speaks about the people that are real in my life. So for me, it’s important because I am relaying something that has happened and the truth of that is crucial.
The overlaid imagery of the compositions also gives them a strong surreal quality, particularly the one with the chessboard and the hand that seems as if it should be reaching for a chess piece but is instead directed towards a railing. Is this a quality you’re looking for specifically in your compositions?
It’s definitely something I’m looking for. I must say, when I talk to museums or people in the art world, they say that my work’s not surreal at all. And I say it is. What I’ve always tried to do, when I started overlaying images, is to keep people interested in painting. I’ve experienced myself that when I’m looking at a painting and understand what I’m seeing I can quickly go to the next painting.
So to keep people looking at my work, I started overlaying things to make them say, “I don’t understand what’s going on, I cannot see what you’re doing. What am I looking at? Is this an arm? Is it a leg?” It’s hard to figure out if the images are related, or a set up, etc.
I’m really enjoying the process, and feel like it creates a relationship where the viewer has to unpack the specific imagery, deciphering the moments to see inside my memories. It creates an almost inverted experience.
The faces not being in it are a big part of the anonymity, which is key to their compositions, correct? Why is that so important for you?
The face doesn’t hold much additional power for me, I guess because I’m more interested in a person’s comfort. I don’t show facial expressions as these are easily faked; e.g., “Smile for the picture!” The body, the pose and the posture show me the love that’s there, and by leaving out the face a lot more attention can go to the rest of the painting. Our eyes are always drawn back to faces and they become so important you miss all the other details. It’s very normal for humans to read faces, but because my work is more about friendship itself than who the friends are, it’s important for me to leave them out so that more attention can be paid to the rest of the work. People are always recognisable by their clothes or tattoos anyway.
Does the significance of these visual references, clothes or tattoos for example, influence your choice of compositions? Do you ever notice a friend’s tattoo and think you’d love to paint that?
When I see a tattoo I actually think “Oh god, that’s going to be hard! Why did you get that one?” No, it’s always fun to try it out. It’s important because these people are people, even their moles are important. It matters where the mole is, because I want to do right by this person’s body and identity. Clothing is also something that I think works in my favour, often because it immediately speaks about our generation. Sometimes it’s about what’s fashionable right now, but also sometimes it’s really nostalgic for me.
I suppose there’s a relationship between clothing and the skin as well. Like the big, different types of texture and fabric that, yeah, as we know, overlap cross over, there’s great interplay between those elements, and also skin tones. Layering skin over skin also adds to the idea of closeness within the works.
What’s your relationship with social media like? A lot of people’s relationship with photography is intrinsically caught up with Instagram, Pinterest, etc. But your photography ends up as vast oil paintings rather than tiny images on Instagram. How do you approach the act of photography?
I guess the aesthetic started with Tumblr, going back to 2014 or something, when all the girlies did that on Tumblr, and it was very hip and happening. Maybe my mind developed around those times and I just always took it with me, because I think it brings such an atmosphere with it, the idea of a snapshot, a fleeting moment, it’s capturing the adventure.
But now I would not post the photos. The pictures cannot be the work, because it’s too simple. The dedication to the painting and wanting to spend more time with the moment whilst painting it enhances the friendship. If I just take a picture and print it out, that is an easy fix, and it wouldn’t put them on a pedestal like the painting does. The painting is really an act of love and dedication. It’s larger than life. I make them this big because I want them to have this kind of stage, it’s like a worship almost, which I don’t think I can achieve just by putting the pictures out there. I need the painting to enhance it.
How have you felt working towards the show?
It has been amazing. I didn’t feel like I had a lot of pressure on me, which is a new feeling, because I have no doubts in the works I’m making. I love it, and I think it’s my best work yet.
