Plateware 4

"Amsterware", 2 - 2 m, acrylic/canvas 1993 (collection Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam)

Exposition "Hollands Museum" in the Berlage Beurs, Wim Beeren's farewell show (director of the Stedelijk Museum) 1994

Paroxysm

Kaagman made his debut as a painter, not on canvas, but on citywalls . His technique is based upon a touch which is both careless and masterly, cutting of stencils and spraypainting with an airbrush. Out of these elements he conjures a procession of paradoxical configurations, a surreal collection of deft inconsistencies whose effect is all the more figurative because of their familarity. These belong to an iconography commonly referred to as archetypal, to the storehouse mind of the inquisitive child who collects forms from nature and pictures from sweet-packets, and to that body of almost forgotten images from the ancient history lessons of one's schooldays. This procession of images is entirely devoid of hierarchy. Each element takes a turn as the star of theatrical composition with other images laying a supporting roles. There is a constant monumental grandeur with throughout their inherent dramatic suggestion of a threathened paroxysm.