Landschap met bomen 1939 - 2009

This is Kees Stoop's "Landschap met bomen", or "Landscape with Trees", made with black chalk on paper. When you look at this drawing, you can almost feel the artist outside, quickly capturing the scene, making marks and letting the landscape tell him what to do next. The textures in this drawing are so interesting. Stoop uses smudged charcoal to create soft, almost hazy, areas. Then, he scratches in sharp lines to define the trees. Look closely, and you’ll see how the varied pressure creates a sense of depth, pushing some elements back while bringing others forward. The area of dense trees, for example, almost disappears into the background, while the trees in the foreground are rendered with more detail. It reminds me of Guston's late work; the same approach of looking at the world in a raw, unfiltered way and embracing the ambiguity. Art isn't about having all the answers. It's about exploring the questions.