Stengels binnen rondboog c. 1944 - 1990

Kees Stoop made this print, Stengels binnen rondboog, using etching. Imagine the artist bent over the plate, using tiny tools to create the intricate lines before us now. I wonder if he started with the stems, upright, repetitive? It's almost like a forest of lines, and then, around the stems, almost like explosions of foliage. A strange, claustrophobic space comes into being, like the plants are pressing in on the viewer. What I think is especially amazing is how the foreground and background mesh into one overall pattern. It reminds me of the Pattern and Decoration movement in the 70s, artists like Joyce Kozloff or Robert Kushner, where every part of the surface is alive with detail, making it impossible to look at any one thing. It’s as if Stoop is saying, "Hey, the world is complex, chaotic, and beautiful, all at the same time."