hendrik dijk
Artist's Reviews
Mary Cassai is a freelance writer on the arts living in the Hudson
Valley.
Kingston Daily Freeman, June 21, 2002
"Hendrik Dijk has said himself that his art "is about energy, not
about meaning." It's up to the viewer to attach meaning or not In this show,
"HB II" is a marvelous combination of riotous-ness and strict control.' Dijk's
usual grids can no longer contain themselves as if the individual grids are
pushed from underneath with some tremendous force, and so the nucleus of each
grid urges itself out of line, creating an overall billowing effect.
How does Dijk do it? Only the artist knows, of course, but it
looks as if he pulls off his "trompe 1'oeil" effect by grading the values in
each rectangle, with the most intense hue at center, by varying the size of the
rectangles and the strips of color inside each form. At times, the eye
perceives rounded, monochromatic pillars. And the range of colors they run from
brilliants to soft sunset tones. The work offers a sense of life as puzzle,
momentary flashes of beauty, brilliance, joy, but overall, a conundrum. "Susan"
appears to be created from nine rectangles, each with three oblongs, that in
most cases are transformed into columnar forms. But there appears to be more
ordered movement here. Each form moves from darker tones on the periphery to a
bar of brilliance at center, a burst of sunshine yellow, for instance. There's
a feeling of sudden breakthrough, of revelation, even. One wonders what would
happen if all this pulsating energy were ever to burst its bounds".
hendrik dijk
90 abeel street
kingston, ny
12401
(845) 339-0980