Vliegerende mannen 1885 - 1931

Willem Bastiaan Tholen made 'Vliegerende mannen' with graphite on paper at an unknown date. It’s like looking at a page from a sketchbook, where you see the artist in the act of trying to capture something, maybe it's a fleeting moment or an idea. The surface is completely filled with figures, upside down, sideways. This reminds me of my own work. I fill my canvases, let the composition emerge and dissolve, then do it all over again. There's a vulnerability and immediacy here. Tholen leaves his workings-out on display, and that's interesting to me, this willingness to show the process, the kind of back-and-forth that goes on as the artist is figuring things out. Look at the marks; they are light, tentative, almost floating on the page. And, even though it is just a sketch, you can see the effort that went into making it. Gustav Klimt, who also took a similar approach to drawing, comes to mind. Both artists invite us to consider the making of art as an activity that isn't just about the final product. It's about the ongoing act of seeing, thinking, and feeling.