Look at that
DAPHNE BLEEKER

Daphne welcomed us into her studio at the Volkshotel, a space she has been inhabiting for the past 9 years. Specializing in drawing and painting, her figurative work blends with the environment she has cultivated, a space that functions like a second home. Every object in the room either contributes to her work or emerges from it. This studio is definitely not a solitary one, often people are invited to share the space and if they’re lucky use the sauna on the roof. Our visit quickly turned into an impromptu show and tell. Like Daphne, the space is generous, displaying different kinds of eclectic objects from all over the world.



Daphne’s latest body of work, Peek a Boob, draws from the imagery present in Hentai/Ero Manga. Focusing on blurring and revealing, Daphne explores the fun between exposure and concealment. She reinterprets the visual language of the genre’s censorship laws, which consist of black stripes used to cover genitals while still keeping them perfectly visible. The result is a reflection on erotic imagery, censorship, and how context shapes perception.

“My practice is influenced by my curiosity about people. Just like I peek into a stranger’s house, I spend hours sitting with people learning who they are and how they’ve come together as that person. I want to get to know people. What I find the most enjoyable about this series is witnessing the range of reactions it evokes from different people.”




Daphne has been investigating a series of diapositives from Roel Roosterman, the father of a close friend who traveled to Japan in the 80s. More recently she’s been creating large-scale works composed of smaller parts that can be developed anywhere, not just in the studio. A very flexible way of making art. Her space was full of relics and subtle interventions on clothes, furniture, and walls, revealing perhaps moments of boredom or a fun break from working.

This August Daphne will attend a residency program in Arts Itoya and Studio Kura in Japan, made possible by the support from over 90 people who have donated to her crowdfunding. She is set to investigate the results of doing creative work within a rigid framework, a routine-based creative practice that focuses on discipline, structure, and endurance. Inspired by artists like Haruki Murakami, Georgia O’Keeffe, and many others, Daphne will practice this method in search of her ideal working system.