Man in pak en ruiter te paard

Aat Verhoog made this print, "Man in pak en ruiter te paard" – that's "Man in suit and rider on horseback" – and there's no date on it, but I get the feeling it was made with lithography. Look how he lets the colors mingle, the way the green field shifts from light to dark, or in the modeling of the horse. This print is about the tension between control and letting go. I keep coming back to the mark-making, which is loose and free. The way the man's suit blends into the field is so casual. But then you have the image itself: the rider, the horse, the man in the suit, it's all very buttoned-up. The longer you look, the stranger it gets. It's as if the artist is showing us how he can make a picture, but he's not sure why he should. I keep thinking about outsider artists like Bill Traylor, who make art because they have to, not because they want to. This is different, but it flirts with that feeling.