“I’m free and work without any restraints”
Gertrud D’s paintings scintillate with energy
De Telegraaf, 05-02-2007, Paola van der Velde.
For twenty years Gertrud D (Trudy Derksen) actively took part in the Dutch theatre world. After leaving the Amsterdam drama school, she became deeply involved in improvised and experimental theatre. She participated in several productions by theatre groups such as Mickery, the Nieuwe Komedie, the Ro Theater and the Bloemgroep. For her own company Groep Gertrud D, which she founded in 1985, she designed costumes and sets and directed as well. Some ten years ago, however, she bade the stage farewell in order to dedicate herself fully to painting – with great success. The public loves her scintillating paintings that radiate vivaciousness and energy.
Gertrud D is a privileged artist. Not only does she have an immense studio at her disposal in the heart of Amsterdam, where she can work without being distracted. The past half year, she also has had her own gallery in the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat. This beautiful building, where her work is on permanent exhibition, is an extraordinary asset. But Gertrud D would also like to share her exhibition space with others. Together with Kees van Twist (director of the Groninger Museum and a great admirer of her work) she is already making plans to organize exhibitions by young, beginning artists.
Haven
Her studio is a haven of peace and quiet in the capital. Gertrud D reveals herself to be a well-organized person who needs silence and concentration to paint. The dozens of bottles of acrylic paints are neatly arranged according to colour, the virgin sheets of paper are laid out, ready to be used. “I work purely by intuition and always on more than one composition at a time. Before I begin I first have to clear my head. I don’t want to wish for anything. There is no preconceived plan. When I paint, I just let it happen and work freely and without restraints. I improvise, yes, like I used to do in my former life in the theatre. I just love surprising myself and than elaborating on that surprise.”
“Still, I don’t just mess around. I go back and revise the playful element which is my starting point. As a painter you are your own director. You have to refine the details of your initial improvisations. A little more colour here, a little more texture there. I like to work layer on layer. And I like to give my paintings an interesting surface texture by adding lacquer or plaster to the paint. In so doing I create different layers in which the eye of the viewer can continually discover new things.” Her compositions seem to be perpetually moving. Lines and colours dance rhythmically on the canvas, tumble over each other, mesh into a tangled knot. Some of the works are also reminiscent of musical compositions in which the different tones of the instruments have been visualized in paint.
Meditative
It was the work of the German expressionists of the Blaue Reiter group, headed by Wassily Kandinsky, which first inspired her to become an artist. Later, Gertrud D discovered the contemplative work of the American painter Sam Francis. Although there occasionally is some affinity between their techniques and she considers the American to be a kindred spirit, Gertrud D is more than just a “female Sam Francis.” She displays this notably in her contemplative, well-composed works, in which only a few organic forms – put down on paper with utmost concentration – fill the stage. In her more recent works, she uses mother of pearl paint which gives her compositions a magical radiance. In combination with the other pigments it sometimes has the same effect as a layer of ceramic glazing. As if her paintings, like pottery, had been fired in a kiln.
Gertrud D’s paintings scintillate with energy
De Telegraaf, 05-02-2007, Paola van der Velde.
For twenty years Gertrud D (Trudy Derksen) actively took part in the Dutch theatre world. After leaving the Amsterdam drama school, she became deeply involved in improvised and experimental theatre. She participated in several productions by theatre groups such as Mickery, the Nieuwe Komedie, the Ro Theater and the Bloemgroep. For her own company Groep Gertrud D, which she founded in 1985, she designed costumes and sets and directed as well. Some ten years ago, however, she bade the stage farewell in order to dedicate herself fully to painting – with great success. The public loves her scintillating paintings that radiate vivaciousness and energy.
Gertrud D is a privileged artist. Not only does she have an immense studio at her disposal in the heart of Amsterdam, where she can work without being distracted. The past half year, she also has had her own gallery in the Nieuwe Spiegelstraat. This beautiful building, where her work is on permanent exhibition, is an extraordinary asset. But Gertrud D would also like to share her exhibition space with others. Together with Kees van Twist (director of the Groninger Museum and a great admirer of her work) she is already making plans to organize exhibitions by young, beginning artists.
Haven
Her studio is a haven of peace and quiet in the capital. Gertrud D reveals herself to be a well-organized person who needs silence and concentration to paint. The dozens of bottles of acrylic paints are neatly arranged according to colour, the virgin sheets of paper are laid out, ready to be used. “I work purely by intuition and always on more than one composition at a time. Before I begin I first have to clear my head. I don’t want to wish for anything. There is no preconceived plan. When I paint, I just let it happen and work freely and without restraints. I improvise, yes, like I used to do in my former life in the theatre. I just love surprising myself and than elaborating on that surprise.”
“Still, I don’t just mess around. I go back and revise the playful element which is my starting point. As a painter you are your own director. You have to refine the details of your initial improvisations. A little more colour here, a little more texture there. I like to work layer on layer. And I like to give my paintings an interesting surface texture by adding lacquer or plaster to the paint. In so doing I create different layers in which the eye of the viewer can continually discover new things.” Her compositions seem to be perpetually moving. Lines and colours dance rhythmically on the canvas, tumble over each other, mesh into a tangled knot. Some of the works are also reminiscent of musical compositions in which the different tones of the instruments have been visualized in paint.
Meditative
It was the work of the German expressionists of the Blaue Reiter group, headed by Wassily Kandinsky, which first inspired her to become an artist. Later, Gertrud D discovered the contemplative work of the American painter Sam Francis. Although there occasionally is some affinity between their techniques and she considers the American to be a kindred spirit, Gertrud D is more than just a “female Sam Francis.” She displays this notably in her contemplative, well-composed works, in which only a few organic forms – put down on paper with utmost concentration – fill the stage. In her more recent works, she uses mother of pearl paint which gives her compositions a magical radiance. In combination with the other pigments it sometimes has the same effect as a layer of ceramic glazing. As if her paintings, like pottery, had been fired in a kiln.