Het lege erf 1979

Here is a work by Harrie Gerritz, made using etching, aquatint, and screen printing. I can imagine the artist playing around with these different techniques, layering one on top of the other, almost like a collage. He’s clearly interested in the materials of the image – its surface and texture. What I love about this work is its simplicity. Each shape feels essential, boiled down to its most basic form. I wonder what Gerritz was thinking when he decided to include that long, striped object, or that wobbly cow. The thinness of the lines, like the barely-there form of the cow, communicates a kind of lightness and the emptiness of the empty yard. And yet the bold, flat colours of the barn create this sense of groundedness. It’s as if the artist has carefully balanced these different elements, creating a sense of harmony and tension. To me, this work speaks to the power of artmaking as a conversation, where artists borrow, remix, and respond to each other's ideas.