Bas Schippers: Close Shave
Our latest edition features Bas Schippers’ “Sunburn”, a striking exploration of masculinity and vulnerability. In his work, Schippers examines the full-frontal male nude, challenging viewers to reconsider their assumptions about strength and exposure. We sit down with Schippers to discuss his fascination with masculinity, performance, and the ongoing process of unlearning.
There’s something quite striking about your work confronting the clichés of masculinity. When you’re creating, are there moments where these symbols still surprise you or shift in unexpected ways?
They usually start as a surprise or an ‘unknown.’ Quite often, I don’t know what these symbols mean to me when I first start making them. Intuitively, I get the urge to paint something specific, and only later—through painting and reflecting on it—do I figure out what it signifies. With this edition, for example, I just thought: What if I don’t paint their wrestling suits and just make it a tan line? After painting a few more similar images, I started realizing how much it plays with the perception of a man in sportswear versus nude.
You dive deep into masculinity in a way that feels both personal and universal. Do you think it’s something we can unlearn, or is it etched into us?
Personally, I believe that a big part of gender and identity is learned or performed. Much of it is taught by our parents and environment—this is how a boy behaves, this is how a girl behaves. And because it’s mostly learned, I also believe it can be unlearned, though I don’t think that’s easy.
To unlearn these patterns, one must first take an honest look at oneself and one's masculinity—examining which aspects might be harming others or ourselves. Not all aspects of masculinity are negative; as a form of performance, I even celebrate certain visual or behavioral stereotypes.
Caricatures fascinate me immensely. Not just the ones in comics or animations like Popeye or Johnny Bravo, but especially ones in real life. Personas and characters, the ones you remember and recognize because of a specific character trait, hobby, accessory, haircut or catchphrase. I even adopt little things here and there that I find cool or quirky—a toothpick, a bandana. I’m also interested in how these people are perceived. In a way, they are outcasts. Ridiculed by some, admired by others. I think the way you react to eccentric people says a lot about you as a person. Maybe that’s also why I like to look eccentric myself, it’s the perfect radar for detecting and filtering out people who are not genuine or unkind.
For me, unlearning is a continuous process of staying mindful and checking ourselves. Without practicing self-awareness, it’s easy to fall back into patterns that were ingrained in us early on. I try to approach this by practicing empathy, being less judgmental, and recognizing that our Western idea of masculinity is just a construct of its time and culture. Even that awareness alone feels like a step in the right direction.
Looking at your own reflection in paint must lead to some revelations. What’s a wild truth you discovered in that process?
I used to draw myself a lot years ago, but always in simple line drawings. When I picked up self-portraiture again during my residency at Clovermill last year, it had been years since I had drawn or painted myself in a more detailed way. That experience completely rekindled my love for it.
Looking at a self-portrait is still a strange thing. After so many different iterations, I feel like I have a decent grasp of what my face looks like—but it’s never an exact formula. When I see a self-portrait, I can immediately tell if the essence of me is in there, as if some kind of energy has been transferred in the process of making it.
"When I see a self-portrait, I can immediately tell if the essence of me is in there."
The shaving paintings, for example, started with a simple selfie I took after applying shaving cream to my face. At first, I didn’t think much of it, but after being surrounded by a few of them for a while, I started seeing the bigger context. Shaving has something very tough but on the other hand also kinda vain, silly even. At home men are meticulously lining up their mustaches and beards obsessing over little details. Shaving in movies always looks really cool but in reality it's a lot of cussing and correcting mistakes. And afterwards often thinking that it's crooked or you didn't do that good a job.
Is there a current project that's got you excited?
In April, I’ll be heading to the United States for the first time in my life, on a quest to buy my first cowboy hat. I’ve rented the biggest pick-up truck I could find, and I’m going to road-trip all the way from Tucson, Arizona to Nashville, Tennessee. A solo trip that will probably give me life lessons and inspiration for years to come.
Words and images by Kees de Klein