Text for solo exhibition Rijksmuseum Twenthe written by Lisette Pelsers

Ine Vermee

The works of Ine Vermee are stages in an ongoing study into the working and properties of colours: how they are used independently, but also how they relate to each other. What is the whitest white, the blackest black, and the coolest or warmest grey? What is the influence of a gloss or mat surface on the colour? What is the role of light in the artwork?
There is a clear affinity in all her works, but closer observation reveals their individual identities in subtle nuances of white, grey or in small textural differences. Ine Vermee is an artist who does not adopt large, expansive gestures but takes small, deliberate steps in her work. These are careful but eventually decisive steps, which are the result of a long process, from the formulation of principles to determining the right execution of the artwork.
She selects her colours from an existing system, for example the RAL colour fan. She uses this method to make canvasses of white lacquer, often in series: diptychs or polyptychs. They have no title but are provided with a description consisting of the tints that have been used in the works: pearl white, cream white, grey white, signal white, bright white, traffic white, and papyrus white, with the corresponding colour numbers. The thick, saturated paint layer is applied using a lacquer spray, which gives the surface the hard appearance of an industrial spray. The high degree of perfection allows the eye to roam over a completely even surface of pure colour, without any blemishes or imperfections to distract the observer. The structure of the linen is completely hidden: only the edges of the canvas are taped, so that the original canvas is still visible there.
In a series of unique screen prints in greys, square surfaces are partly printed one on the other. At each print run the density increases and the colour is further built up. The eye observes the successive stages and experiences at the same time a difference in colour, which is caused by the diminishing degree of absorption of the ink by the paper. In a surface in which only one print run is used, the colour and the structure of the paper play a greater role than in one in which four print runs have saturated the surface. This creates in the different surfaces also a transition from mat to gloss and thus a difference in the reflection of the surface.
In Ine Vermee's more recent work, a colour palette of whites, designed by the American architect Richard Meier for Sikkens, is the basis for making panels in enamel. The 'Meier whites' are derived from the working of light at fixed times of the day.
In these works it's all about showing the colour in its purest form, whereas in other series what matters are primarily the variations in intensity and degree of saturation.
Ine Vermee has also extended her exploration of the working of colour and texture to textile. At the beginning of 2004 she had a number of linen cloths made with structures of damask woven into the cloth. Some of these structures have now been used as principles for table linens.
The reserved nature of Ine Vermee's artistic interventions imparts a modest quality to the works. They are camouflaged, withdrawing from rather than catching the eye of the observer. But the almost ethereal quality that can sometimes be seen in these works demonstrate an intense sensitivity to colour and texture. This makes them very personal expressions of an artist who continually questions and critically observes herself and her works.