Rode kerktoren, blauwe boom 1994

Curator: Here we have “Red Church Tower, Blue Tree” by Harrie A. Gerritz, made in 1994. It’s an ink drawing that plays with abstraction and landscape elements. What's your immediate take? Editor: It's like a memory dissolving. The shapes are so simple, almost childlike, yet there's a somber tone lurking beneath the surface. I see the barest hint of loss, perhaps of some old stories from this village that has faded through time, though I admit this feels entirely subjective. Curator: Not at all. Those rudimentary shapes invite such a layered understanding. The red tower, or church spire, reaching upwards could signify aspirations, spirituality but because it's truncated in the middleground we're confronted with the lack of access. Editor: Yes! And the “blue tree,” feels ghostly; a skeletal presence and the yellow floating lozenge reads like a departing soul. Curator: Indeed. Blue, after all, often symbolizes sadness, longing, distance. While yellow brings enlightenment but within boundaries. Gerritz seems intent on using recognizable forms, but freeing them from their literal associations. Note that he doesn't even ground the buildings in perspectival space—they just exist, unmoored. Editor: Right, which heightens this idea of memory being selective and fragmented, reconfigured into something almost dreamlike. Like, I KNOW that’s a church, I recognize a tree. But in this landscape they're destabilized and floating about as my fragmented, personalized idea of the place. It’s an echo of a familiar world, re-contextualized and re-experienced through Gerritz’s visual lexicon. Curator: Precisely! These aren’t simple representations; it's about invoking shared understandings, feelings. Editor: You know, that’s stuck with me in some curious ways that can still yield such emotion after so much time since its creation and I still haven't figured out it why it leaves me speechless to this day. Curator: These types of imageries, as well as artistic explorations, are like open doors – beckoning us in, if only we dare.