Vluchtende figuren before 2006

Aat Verhoog made ‘Vluchtende figuren’ (or ‘Fleeing Figures’) using printmaking techniques on paper. The plate seems to have been printed with a certain urgency, like the artist was working against the clock. I can imagine Verhoog in the studio, layering different figures in a variety of tones. There's a lone figure in blue, standing away from the others, almost as though they have been caught in a sudden downpour of pigment. Then there are these others, these ghostly anatomies looming in sepia, cut off at the thighs. But it is the feet I keep coming back to - these are urgent feet, ready to make a quick getaway. The figures feel unfinished, which makes me think about the endless possibilities in art making – how things can always be reworked, reimagined, and renegotiated.