Landschap met rode coulisse 1950 - 2009

Harrie Gerritz made this screenprint, Landschap met rode coulisse, where the layering of colors feels playful, almost like you could peel them off one by one. See how the flat, bold reds and blues butt up against the greens, each shape declaring itself. There's a real joy in the materiality here, you can imagine the squeegee pulling ink across the screen. Look at the red 'coulisse', that's French for 'backdrop' - that's what it looks like! The tree trunk behind it is a simple, stark shape, yet together they create a kind of window onto another world. It makes me think about how much we, as artists, rely on these basic shapes to conjure up something bigger. This piece reminds me a little of Patrick Caulfield’s deadpan pop sensibility. Gerritz, like Caulfield, embraces the power of simplicity, showing us that sometimes, less really is more.