Jaarbalans in België 1914 - 1918

Patricq Kroon’s ‘Jaarbalans in België’ uses ink and watercolor to create a world that’s both immediate and strangely distant. The lines are sure and defined, but the washes of color bleed into each other, like thoughts blurring at the edges of a dream. Look at the hand pointing to the open book. It’s so deliberately placed, almost like a stage direction, drawing you in. It's like Kroon is saying, "Here, look at this.” The cross-hatched inky textures give a real sense of weight to the figure and the space, but they also allow the light to bounce off the page in a really beautiful way. The map in the background with it's geometric shapes defining geographical boundaries. It reminds me of maps by Alfred Jarry, both share a sense of dark political satire. You get the feeling that art is always in conversation with itself, building, questioning, and rethinking. It’s all just one big, messy, ongoing experiment.