Caja Boogers’ paintings generally focus on altering viewers’ perceptions. To do so, he uses painting conventions such as the usage of perspective, diptychs and repetition, and forces a connection between these formal elements and the painted subject. He believes that all of these elements are inextricably connected to the viewers experience. His work is often characterised by layers and scratches, as well as little imperfections on the surface, and can vary from photorealistic paintings to monochrome abstractions.

Because of his uniform way of presenting, Boogers ultimately creates a connection between the work and the space. This spatial quality takes the emphasis off the singular image, and forces you as a viewer to look at the work as a whole. His craftsmanship enables him to present the image in a manner that prompts viewers to question what they are seeing— if it’s even a painting— reminiscent of trompe l’oeil techniques.

The artist’s current practice revolves around old analogue pictures from personal family albums, as well as public archives, which he references within his paintings. The images display settings of daily life in the former Dutch East Indies. Boogers’ interest for these albums originates from the conversations he had with his grandparents, wherein they had shared stories of how their lives were back then. This isn’t very usual, as a lot of Indo-European families keep these stories to themselves, and are therefore prevented from being passed on to the next generation. His latest work combines a painterly urge to comprehend an image through repetitive painting with a deep personal nostalgia that persists within the Indo-Dutch community. It’s a collective sentiment over a bygone era, or even a non-existent era, that’s ultimately embedded in the artist’s upbringing.

'Caja Boogers’s painting installation ‘As far as I know,’ is about this struggle with memory—and much more. Underpinning this series is the fact that Boogers has a Dutch father and an Indo mother, so he grew up between two cultures. The Dutch culture has always been very much present for him (if only because he has lived in Rotterdam for most of his life), while the Indo side was more distant, physically, literally, and also in the shared stories and memories. Boogers’s family members on his mother’s side are not too inclined to elaborate on their past in Indonesia—getting his grandparents to tell him their stories was a tough process. The few memories they shared did not bring the connection with his Indo background as close as he had hoped either. This explains why Boogers is now using his painting to descend into the shaft of memories. He selected six photographs, four from an archive and two from his mother’s family’s photograph album.' - Hans den Hartog Jager

This publication is published simultaneously with the solo exhibition ‘As far as I know,’ at Galerie Gerhard Hofland in Amsterdam (September 7-October 12, 2024), and presents the installation Untitled (Iterations) that consists of 92 paintings. The scale of this complete work changes the usual way people view paintings during a gallery exhibition. In other words, the focus is now taken away from the individual image. Each individual painting is part of the whole and directs the viewer’s gaze. This is achieved by framing each piece differently, isolating various parts of the images. Boogers uses six source images, all of which are old analog photos drawn from both personal family albums and public archives…

'(...) it is a touching idea that Caja Boogers has decided that the paintings in ‘As far as I know,’ do not have to stay together. After the exhibition at Galerie Gerhard Hofland, the works will spread out across the globe. From then on, every viewer or buyer will know that she or he is seeing only one part of the original work of art. ‘As far as I know,’ will itself become a memory.' - Hans den Hartog Jager

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Caja Boogers (Vlaardingen, 2001) is a Dutch painter. Before graduating from the Utrecht School of the Arts, he participated in the exhibition A Touch of Light (April 23–September 17, 2023) at Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen. Since graduating in 2023, he has been included in various exhibitions and collections such as Museum Voorlinden, Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, DE.GROEN Fine Art Collection, AkzoNobel Art Foundation and FENIX collection. He will continue his trajectory with a two-year residency at De Ateliers in Amsterdam. Since 2023, the artist is represented by Galerie Gerhard Hofland. ‘As far as I know,’ is his first solo exhibition at the gallery.