Marian Cramer Projects

On now

• Life is difficult to navigate. Theories, books, philosophies, mythologies, belief systems, and entire sciences were developed around that fact. Day-to-day life often feels precarious, intense, and simply overwhelming. But regardless, we’re pushing through it. And however fantastic or lousy we are at it, most of us are doing our personal best at any given moment. Whether grappling with global anxieties or our own personal storms, we keep trying instead of giving in to lethargy. There is humor, exhaustion, humiliation, and a desperate kind of love packed into the phrase I’m Doing my Best, Honey. It is an excuse, of course, but it is also a beautiful form of surrender. Originally borrowed from a viral video of a young girl earnestly painting her mother’s nails while making an absolute mess, for artist Lotte Keijzer and her husband, it became a lighthearted shorthand for accepting each other’s flaws. By admitting to humanity’s persistent insecurity and fabulous imperfection, it also reveals the will to impress, to relate, to be appreciated, or at least acknowledged. In her 2022 solo debut exhibition with Marian Cramer Projects, titled Shituations, Keijzer focused on capturing the specific, isolated, micro-catastrophes in life. From shower drain malfunction to accidental boob slips to family dinner dynamics, the awareness of these sweet little failures grew to a personal, rejuvenating philosophy. In that sense, I’m Doing my Best, Honey is a deeper, more mature exploration of the same subject but observed from a more universal standpoint. It is no longer just about the individual “shituation,” but about the overarching, universal feeling of facing life’s unforgivingness and slightly failing. Even more so, it’s about acceptance and the critical sense of relief that comes with it. The acceptance of our place in a world at large, of our limitations, and of the fact that we cannot control everything. And this acceptance is very present in Keijzer’s personal disposition. As a self-proclaimed “collector of new hobbies,” she admits to having a high tolerance for being clueless. It is this exact willingness to challenge herself that led her to make art in the first place. “Of course, I’m afraid to fail at times,” she elaborates on this notion. “But I’m lucky that I don’t see many ‘bears on the road,’ which gives me so much joy and opportunity. I know it’s just how I’m wired. I was born a non-worrier. And while that lack of caution has occasionally landed me in bad circumstances, I found a way to see those moments as meaningful.” Her fearless, non-worrying disposition is also reflected in an evolution of the studio practice. From afar, Keijzer’s paintings possess a striking, graphic clarity achieved entirely by hand. With no paint tape in her toolbox, the works reveal themselves in their painterly, raw, and imperfect richness from up close. Additionally, Keijzer introduces sand and other unexpected mediums directly into her paint, building tactile textures that solidify and ground her imagery in the physical realm. There, as a fearless colorist, she composes unusual chromatic harmonies, pairing motley colors that make each hue vibrate and uplift the next. This duality between the anxiety of feeling incapable and the liberating joy of plunging ahead anyway brought up new themes of care and cultivation. Keep on Trying, 2026, uses gardening imagery to symbolize growth. A giant, bold rake gathers fallen foliage, while a piece of plastic wrapping flies stubbornly among the leaves. The pointy orange leaves burn across the canvas like a wildfire, making it almost impossible to distinguish the trash from nature’s debris. The image suggests that even the largest, sturdiest tools cannot contain life’s mess. But our effort continues. Keijzer also looks back to her roots on Texel, the largest of the Dutch Wadden islands, to explore how our inadequacy and consequent mishaps can reshape the understanding of the world. In The Expected Unexpected, 2026, a lighthouse stands resolute, battered from all sides by gargantuan waves. Yet, at its base, a tiny plastic duck somehow finds its way to the light. This work is a cheeky nod to the famous 1992 Friendly Floatees spill in which a cargo ship lost 28,000 rubber ducks in the Pacific Ocean, accidentally revolutionizing oceanography by helping with mapping global currents. It is a real-world manifestation of Albert Camus’ famous view that life is inherently absurd and our grandest plans often collapse into chaos. Sometimes these petite fiascoes lead to something accidentally fantastic. Other times, failure just leads to failure. Nothing more, nothing less. So, ultimately, I’m Doing my Best, Honey is an anthem for the overwhelmed. It is a reckoning with that heavy, universal feeling of not doing/being enough, of feeling temporarily incapable. But through Keijzer’s positive, resilient lens, it transforms into a reassuring, celebratory release. It points to a distinct, rebellious joy in the effort itself by letting go of the grip we never really had.
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  Lotte Keijzer

  Until 17 Oct 2026

  
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