Saturday 20 June 2015

Dick van Berkum 1 / Ad Reinhardt-Gustave Courbet



Ad Reinhardt
Abstract Painting
1963



Gustave Courbet
Autoportrait sous forme d'une pipe
1858
(Courbet, sans idéal et sans religion)



Beside many others Ad Reinhardt "accompanied" me for many years during the 1970ies and 80ies.
I liked his paintings from the 1950ies and early 60ies as well as his cartoons and writings.
In the late years of his life his paintings became black: “no realism, no impressionism, no expressionism… no texture, no brushwork, no sketching or drawing, no forms, no designs, no calm, no light, no space, no time, no size or scale, no movement, no object, no subject.”
A great challenge and opportunity for a new start in my view. My painting from 1993 is a selfportrait. It's me in the studio, watching the change of light and colors on a sunny afternoon.
Dick van Berkum, 2015



Dick van Berkum (NL)
Made in Holland (Sunlight in the Studio)
1993
acrylic, pencil and oil on canvas
140 x 280 cm


Monday 8 June 2015

Lesley Hicks / Johannes Vermeer



Johannes Vermeer
View of Delft
c.1660-1661
oil on canvas
96,5  x 115,7 cm


‘The View of Delft’ by Vermeer possesses the freshness of sunshine after rain and although it was his hometown, for me it has all the visual excitement of venturing into a place for the very first time.

My watercolour ‘view of Antwerp from south of the river’ was painted with a nod to Vermeer’s great work, during my first walk into that city. The light, skyline and river were too enticing to pass by without recording that particular, never to be repeated moment, a moment of anticipation.

When working out in the open in this way I find the process and urgency of decisions – where to begin – what to leave out - the scale of mark - happen so quickly as to be almost beyond thought.  As instinct kicks in - the accumulation of decisions crystallize into the painting.

Lesley Hicks, 2015




Lesley Hicks (UK)
View of Antwerp from South of the River
2010
watercolour, ink and acrylic on paper
14 x 21 cm