Man en haas c. 1965 - 1980

Aat Verhoog created "Man en haas" on paper, and straight away I love the pale hues, it's like a memory. I can imagine him, feeling his way, intuitively placing the clown and rabbit—his hand moving, then pausing, then moving again. The clown seems to be reaching out, maybe trying to catch the rabbit; or perhaps he is casting a shadow. The marks are so immediate, so light and airy. Look at the way the shadow is made of short hatched lines. I feel the artist's hand and arm in this gesture; it’s tentative but sure. I can just imagine him thinking of the rabbit and how it darts from one place to another. It's a nod to other artists perhaps, Miro or Chagall, echoing their playfulness and experimentation. There's an ongoing conversation between artists. Each one throwing ideas into the mix, creating something new from what has come before. Paintings hold a kind of open-endedness, a question mark hanging in the air. They don’t necessarily give answers, but rather offer a space for reflection.