Amber Schaafsma

Amber Schaafsma’s work delves into the poetic elements of everyday life, capturing moments that linger in memory through her distinct use of painting, video, and audio. Her style features flat, figurative depictions of deserted, familiar locations—bars, cinemas, and candle-lit tables—painted on oddly-sized wood scraps where the texture of the wood subtly emerges through the paint.

Her work When the Novelty Settles, Until the Dust Wears Off is a triptych that explores the twilight zone between realism and disillusionment. It depicts indoor and outdoor scenes of a bar, drawing from Schaafsma’s own memories and portraying them with a romanticized, yet ironic, lens. The paintings invite viewers to become protagonists, projecting their own associations onto the elements depicted. The life-sized canvases and reference to iPhone photographs emphasize the personal yet universal nature of these memories, challenging viewers to reconsider the familiarity and nostalgia of such scenes.