Saskia de Marée / Co Westerik

 

 

Co Westerik

Pointing at the wound

2016

tempera, alkyd and oil on panel

50 x 65 cm

source: Fergus McCaffrey Gallery

 

 

Saskia de Marée

De lijn

2024

oil paint on linen

20 x 25 cm

 

 

 

In Co Westerik’s (1924-2018) works, I discover a remarkable depth of layers. Layers in which nature and humanity are transformed into fragile truths. And also layers of paint, a uniquely personal way of applying paint in many layers, from which the final image ultimately emerges.

The work feels very fragile and tactile, and continues to surprise with its idiosyncratic way of thinking and imagination.

The rounded forms and subdued colors abstract his figuration and soften his subjects. I find it most beautiful when the figuration recedes and the layered and blended colored dots, planes, and stripes take over, forming a breathing, mystical whole.

 

When René Korten approached me for his blog 'Nothing But Good', I was reminded of Co Westerik’s work, certainly because of the qualities of his art, but also because I have recently been, and still am, in a long-term recovery process following surgery on my foot. That feeling of being small and vulnerable is very much expressed in his work, as is the grandeur of nature of which we are all a part.

 

In my own painting practice, I explore aspects of organic forms, environments, and still lifes, while also seeking a reversibility, twists in understanding or in what one sees. For example, I have created series of works in which the landscape is treated as an object, and contrasting works in which the object is approached in a landscape-like, almost geographical manner.

These are shifts in both painterly and thematic aspects; the work is about boundaries and the desire to push beyond them. It is also purely about painting and abstraction, in which space is created within the depicted image for renewed meaning.

 

Saskia de Marée, 2026

 

Co Westerik

Vinger tussen grassen
2010

tempera, alkyd and oil on linen
70 x 93 cm

source: www.westerik.nl

 

 

 

 

Saskia de Marée (NL)

Hay (from the series the object as a landscape)

2025

mixed media on linen

50 x 60 cm

www.saskiademaree.nl

Erna Anema / Kazimir Malevich

 

 

Kazimir Malevich

Yellow Plane in Dissolution
1917-1918
109 x 73,5 x 4,5 cm
oil on canvas
Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

 

 

 

 

In my paintings I investigate boundaries. Wherever colors differ from one another more than they resemble each other, a boundary arises. This, in my view, is what painting is about, and I first realized this when I saw the painting 'Yellow Plane in Dissolution' (1917–1918) by Kazimir Malevich. 

 

In addition, the characteristics of Suprematism are: simple geometric forms, a limited color palette, and a focus on abstraction in which the emotional experience of both the maker and the viewer in relation to the subject is important. Although the series in which I paint always have a landscape as their point of departure, and they represent a translation into abstraction. Presented here are several works from my glacier series.

 

Erna Anema, 2026

 

 

 

Erna Anema

Morene A2

2023

120 x 180 cm

oil on canvas

 

 

Erna Anema (NL)

Morene B3

2023

40 x 60 cm

oil on canvas

https://ernaanema.nl

 

Frank Anderson / Willem de Kooning

 

Willem de Kooning 

Rosy Fingered Dawn at Louse Point

1963

oil on canvas

203,5 x 177,5 cm

Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

 

 

I have always been in love with the open space 

that sounds like a flag flapping in the wind.

The vastness. The distances and depths. The perspective. 

The high sky and its promises. The light and the states of mind. 

The shaped time. Space and movement. 

The philosophical space, therefore, and not the romantic one. 

 

A painting comes into being over time. 

That duration ensures an accumulation of intensities within the painting. 

The painting is therefore never a representation of reality 

but always a stack of intensities, which itself becomes a new reality.

Material that is animated by the spiritual act placed within it. 

Which leads to a painting practice consisting of endlessly looking 

at a brushstroke until it shows something.

 

That is what struck me when I first saw de Kooning’s 

"Rosy Fingered Dawn at Louse Point" in the eighties. The recognition! 

The openness and the seemingly effortless manner of painting, that captures 

an overwhelming, complex emotion, summoned by perception. 

The light, the space, the wind, and the body, all in sync. 

And finally the title. Evocative poetry that brings the painting to another level. 

 

The impact it had on me became a starting point for what painting could be.

 

Frank Anderson, 2026

Frank Anderson

Latour serie (Self and shadow)

2026

acrylic on linen

20 x 30 cm

studio collection

Frank Anderson

Ramifications 1

2024

acrylic on linen

20 x 30 cm

private collection

Frank Anderson (NL)

Ramifications 2

2024

acrylic on linen

30 x 40 cm

private collection

https://frankanderson.nl

Ton van Kints / Yves Klein

 

Yves Klein

Leap into the Void

1960

photograph

 

 

In her article 'Philosophy and Image: Leap into the Void', published on 9 March 2018, philosopher Noortje de Leij explored the difference in meaning between the suggestion of being able to rise up, as in Klein's artwork, and the beauty of falling over and over again, which is a form of surrender to the inevitable. She referred in particular to the work of artists such as Bruce Nauman and Bas Jan Ader, in which the repeated fall signifies a letting go of unrealizable illusions. 'Falling again and again, uselessly, aimlessly, without the illusion of a better existence elsewhere, is more heroic than a single leap into space. It is not the illusion of happiness shining down on us from above, but insight into what is going on (what is the case) that holds the promise of a happy life. The tragedy of the fall therefore perhaps holds more happiness than the heroic leap that tries to conceal its doomed failure. Or as Samuel Beckett's famous adage put it: Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.'

 

A work of my own that I have chosen was created in 1984, but it no longer exists. It was constructed from iron, wood, glass and varnish. In other words, a layering of materials that become increasingly less solid and more fluid. I probably cut the piece up to use as the basis for another work. I’d love to see it again, and I’ve often thought about making a copy. I don’t do that, though, because the memory of the sculpture is probably a more satisfying result.

 

Ton van Kints, 2026

Ton van Kints

ZT

1984

iron, wood, glass, varnish

ca 150 x 110 x 5 cm

www.tonvankints.nl

Ben Dallas / Henri Matisse

 

Henri Matisse

The Red Studio 

1911

181 x 219 cm (71.5”x 86.25”)

oil on canvas

Museum of Modern Art, New York

 

 

A major influence on my work is Henri Matisse. His impact is not so much visual; it's inspired from his painting practice, a personal procedure he articulately explained in his "Notes of a Painter" written in 1908. He states:

 

    "Then a moment comes when all the parts have found

     their definite relationships, and from then on it would 

     be impossible for me to add a stroke to my picture

     without having to repaint it entirely."

 

Here, he explains an intuitive way of painting which entails a personal integration of materials along with his responses to the resultant effects rather than pre-conceiving of composition and design. This is the spontaneous process I employ to create my works, one which integrates painting and physical structure into one aesthetic expression. 

 

Ben Dallas, 2025

Ben Dallas

SCHEMATIC FOR A HUMDRUM UTOPIA 

2024  

38,1 x 26,7 cm (15”x10.5”)  

acrylic media, mdf, wood

Ben Dallas
SLOW RECOVERY FROM SELF-INDUCED NORMALITY 

2025  

26,7 x 35,6 cm (10.5”X14”) 

acrylic media, canvas, mdf

Ben Dallas (US)
ATTEMPTING TO GET OVER THE EXISTENCE OF FOOLS  

2025  

22,9 x 30,5 cm (9”x12”)  

acrylic media, canvas, glue

bendallas.com