Bomen 1939 - 2009

Kees Stoop made this drawing of trees with pencil on paper. It is what it is, a collection of lines and marks of varying density, but the more I look, the more I see this not as a picture of trees, but something more like the essence of "treeness." The thing about pencil is that it invites the artist to build up tone gradually, kind of like a slow reveal. I love how Stoop allows the pencil to accumulate, dense areas giving way to lighter patches, creating a beautiful sense of depth and atmosphere. Zooming in on those marks at the tree line, you see how the density gives way to the white of the paper, the strokes becoming more sparse, like light filtering through the foliage. Think of Morandi. Stoop's drawing captures a similar sense of quiet observation and reminds me that art is less about perfect representation and more about feeling and process.