Hek 1939 - 2009

Kees Stoop made this drawing, Hek, with graphite. I love the mark-making. Just look at how he's built up the forms of the pillars and the tangled branches. You can almost feel the pressure of the graphite on the paper, like he's really digging in there, trying to capture the essence of this gateway, and its wintry surroundings. I bet he was standing outside in the cold, quickly trying to sketch before the light changed. He probably was thinking about the way light filters through those bare trees, and the contrast between the solid, weighty pillars and the spindly fence and tree trunks beyond. It reminds me of other landscape drawings I've seen, where artists are trying to capture a sense of place, and light, and time, with just a few simple lines. It is an ongoing conversation between artists across time, inspiring one another’s creativity! Drawing allows for multiple interpretations, and is a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty.