Landschap met rode coulisse 1950 - 2009

Harrie Gerritz made this landscape with a red backdrop; it’s full of flat planes of juicy colour – red, green, blue, with a cheeky cow thrown in for good measure. You know, sometimes I wonder what it’s like for an artist to wrestle with simplicity. It seems so basic but it’s the hardest thing to pull off. I imagine Gerritz thinking hard about each element: the placement of that vivid red square, like a stage curtain, the barest suggestion of a tree, and that perfect, graphic cow, standing so still. He’s not trying to trick us into believing this is real; he's using the bare minimum to make you think. It reminds me a bit of Hockney's stage designs, how they create a whole world with just a few lines and blocks of color. Painters have always looked at each other, borrowed, stolen, and riffed off each other's ideas. Ultimately it’s about finding your own voice in the conversation. And with this playful landscape, Gerritz is definitely saying something unique.