Bosrand 1939 - 2009

Kees Stoop made "Bosrand" using black chalk on paper. I imagine Stoop outside on a cold day, scribbling away with big, fast, marks. The lines are rough and broken, like he's trying to catch the feeling of the forest rather than a perfect picture of it. I love how the marks build up, dark and dense in some spots, then light and airy. Look at the way he suggests depth, how the trees in the back fade into the distance, smudged and hazy. It's like he's saying, "This is what I see, but it's also how I feel when I'm in this place." You can see the influence of other artists here. Stoop must have been looking at painters like Mondrian, or even Van Gogh, but making it his own thing. It is like the visual equivalent of jazz. He’s just riffing on what others have done before him.