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Deborah Clark, April 2003

Crispin Akerman paints within the genre of still life, a category of painting whose origins are as ancient as painting itself. From Pliny in the first century to Joshua Reynolds in the eighteenth, still life has been relegated to the 'lower orders of paining'; whilst at the same time these critics have conceded the admiration its best practitioners have received.

This dismissal of still life can be seen as a reflection of the way in which some human endeavours are valued above others - still life, unlike history painting, or portraiture, represents the objects and circumstances of daily life and its routines, not generals or battles or famous beauties.

Akerman's paintings use the traditional vocabulary of still life - fruit, eggs, gourds, vases and pitchers - with a kind of serious playfulness. In their cascades of lemons and apples and inclusion of oriental vessels they evoke the abundance and richness of Dutch seventeenth century still life painting, which reflected the economic wealth and geographical reach of the Dutch empire. But Akerman's paintings also have an austerity about them, a minimal quality in their settings and composition that refers to the modernist space of still life where form and void can be interchangeable. His crisp and precise arrangements of objects against whitewashed walls and pale table linen celebrate the decorative qualities of ordinary things in the world. And there is an edgy performative quality to the compositions, as if these things at rest might choose to move beyond their tableaux and take off, beyond the frame.

The cool symmetry and simple theatricality of Akerman's still lifes, with their repertoire of familiar objects placed like actors on a stage, has a significant amount of force. These paintings celebrate both the wonder and the humility of the familiar: those simple objects and forms that stand for the endurance of cultural memory, the things in life that abide.

 

Narelle Symes, Changing Surfaces catalogue, 2003

On first sighting the formal composition and calm austerity of Crispin Akerman's still life paintings belie a subtle feeling of anxiety. Though the arrangement is considered and carefully balanced his vessels have been described as actors on a stage, about to walk off and out of the picture frame. Influenced by a variety of artists in and out of the traditional still life genre, Akerman uses subtle techniques to portray this imbalance with simple forms and objects. The cinematic qualities of American landscape artist, Edward Hopper, the hyper-realism of Claudio Bravo, and the tranquility of French Rococo artist Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin influence his work and create delightful tension.

In Akerman's images the familiar ceramic vases and domestic ware become a metaphor for human presence as you imagine the objects being handled and used. Their stark realism is almost palpable, encouraging you to reach out and touch the cold hard surface of the clay or the softness of the fabrics.

The result of Akerman's compositions are timeless and classic, but with enough edginess and tension to encourage greater contemplation and consideration.

 

Sonia Barron, Review, Canberra Times, December 2005

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Fragile beauty unfolds

Still life — new life, by Crispin Akerman, at Beaver Galleries, Deakin

Judging by the number of sold stickers only a few days after the opening, Crispin Akerman has obviously, yet again, captured an enthusiastic Canberra audience for his still-life paintings. His repertoire of props, fruit or flowers with a simple bowls or pot, continues.

What is new in these works is the increased use of a white drapery, previously confined to the table on which his objects are set.

In a number of paintings he depicts the white lily, a potential symbol of purity in Christian iconography, which may or may not be significant.

In Bath and lilies, the fragile beauty of the flowers is enhanced in contrast with the coarser brown texture of an old hip bath which serves as a container.

In Western art the still life came into its own as a genre in the late 17th century, notably in the Netherlands — including the so-called vanitas painting — and in Spain, and has been described as having its roots in classical traditions of illusionistic realism.

It is from these early beginnings that Akerman has drawn.

He has focused on the basic constituents of flowers or fruit with objects on a table which define a still life. If there are any allusions to the vanity of earthly pleasures which preoccupied many early painters, they are overwhelmingly subsumed by the obvious pleasure he takes in painting simple and ordinary things.

His choice of the lily and, possibly, in Red dress and irises, in which a dress is flung across a chair to convey a sense of absence, is as close as he comes to vanitas painting.

What appears more characteristic of Akerman’s intention can be appreciated in the lovely Turkish mixing bowl and lemons. The deceptive simplicity of his compositions of accessible objects with the subtle textural contrast, between the folds of the commonplace drapery, the bowl and the gloss of the lemons, proves a respite from the frenetic consumerism and stress which characterizes contemporary life.