Post-its, 2004 (top) and the notes themselves, bottom.

4 SEPTEMBER – 16 OCTOBER
Galerie Fons Welters, Bloemstraat 140, Tues-Sat 13.00-18.00.

She fills walls with miniature portraits in oil, on yellow Post-it notes. She places her subjects on tiny sheets of glass, then plants them in sand-filled cardboard boxes. She paints her heroes and heroines on sticky tape, then positions them directly on to the gallery wall, each tiny face becoming locked into its own tiny window – it’s as if the viewer is looking in on the rear windows of an apartment block. She uses overhead projectors and outdated a/v devices (no beamers whirring away here) to station her figures. Layer upon layer, one onto another, they grace the walls and the corners of the room, while simultaneously bringing the viewer directly into the throng.

While Claire Harvey does utilise more traditional canvas frames for some of her work, it’s her use of unorthodox, simple, outdated and fragile materials that highlight her level of comfort in her craft and set her apart from her peers. That and the fact she is able to conjure such depth and emotion with only a few strokes of her brush. A seemingly effortless undertaking.

Harvey’s paintings conjure up a time gone by. A time not so long ago, perhaps between the wars, when life was lived out moment to moment, under grey, coal-smoke filled skies. A time of stoic individuality and loneliness, yet self-awareness within the crowd. It’s the complex relationship between the solitary and the society that Harvey establishes within her work. Her subjects seem to have been caught in the act, frozen at an intimate moment. It’s from her choice of unusual materials, such as Post-it notes and sticky tape placed directly on gallery walls, that her subjects’ resolve becomes most apparent.

While you’re known for your small paintings and Post-it note portraits, you have also worked with installations using sugar cubes against the walls of your studio. Are 3D installations a direction you see yourself continuing in?
I often continue going in different directions at the same time so that my works can have more chances to meet up in an unexpected place… but I’ve cut down on using sugar.

Can you describe the idea behind your upcoming show When what was when?
It will be a space in which paintings are projected and temporary images formed; a way to play with what we see and what we think we see.

Your paintings and portraits arguably evoke a real sense of Englishness. Now that you’re based in Amsterdam, do you feel more English or like the romantic ‘Englishwoman abroad’?
My family aren’t from England so I guess I haven’t ever felt totally English. I suppose I feel more English in Amsterdam than when I lived in England. But I’ve always loved travelling, so I’m quite content feeling a bit like a temporary tourist stumbling through.

Who, amongst your contemporaries, are you drawing particular influence from these days?
I’ve been in my studio preparing for this show, listening to lots of great music: Tom Waits, the Tiger Lillies, Bill Callahan, Leonard Cohen, Dylan, Bowie… so I guess that has been my main influence… invisible stories with a good sense of rhythm.