Landschap met bomen before 1959

Editor: So, this is Rein Dool's "Landschap met bomen," a landscape made before 1959 using pen and ink on paper. It has this really sparse, almost melancholic feel to it. What do you see when you look at it? Curator: Well, immediately, I’m drawn to the starkness of the materials: pen and ink, paper. Dool wasn't interested in lavishness here. We see readily available materials being used. Think about what that implies about access, about the democratization of art-making. This isn’t some grand oil painting commissioned by a wealthy patron. Editor: That's true; it does seem very immediate and accessible. So, the materials point to a broader accessibility of art creation itself? Curator: Precisely! And consider the repetitive marks, the dense hatching to build form. This speaks to a process, a labor, almost meditative in its execution. It bridges the gap between artistic expression and everyday working methods. Do you think the landscape itself affects this notion? Editor: Absolutely, because it seems devoid of people. Like a field that nobody owns. Or maybe the absence of ownership IS the statement itself? Curator: Intriguing. In whose hands does that field exist? Or could exist? By highlighting a basic landscape scene through common and available material processes, Dool questions who and how resources are used. The “art” itself exists in the production, not necessarily the image created. Editor: Wow, I never considered art from such an interesting socioeconomic viewpoint! It makes you think about the production, and the process behind it. Curator: Indeed! Thinking about how the very act of creation – and the materials used – can be a statement in itself is where the conversation begins. The lack of material in a landscape hints to something even bigger at stake, than what one would traditionally perceive in a natural scene.