Press release:
”Swedish artist Anna Bjerger created a painting inspired by the poem “Regels geschreven tijdens de plaatselijke vrede nummer 1” (Rules written during the local peace number 1) especially for the exhibition at Christian Ouwens Gallery on the work of Judith Herzberg. Those words gave rise to an image in her mind: paint and language touching each other, one complementing the other.
The painting, entitled ”Matchbox” (2025, oil on aluminium, 104.5 × 150 cm), is dark, deep blue. In the middle lies a matchbox. Yellow and red, brightly coloured, as if it lights up in all that darkness. Next to it is a small dot, almost invisible, as if a spark remained.
It is precisely that small box that makes the painting great: the ordinary takes on weight, a simple object as a metaphor. Just like in Herzberg’s poems, where the small says something about the big. Bjerger paints the silence, Herzberg writes it, and together they create a conversation that never ends.
Anna Bjerger (Sweden) often works with images of everyday things. She paints them with loose, layered brushstrokes, creating space for memory and imagination.
Judith Herzberg (Netherlands) is a poet and playwright. Her language is clear and subtle; she writes about ordinary things, but in such a way that they suddenly become full of meaning.
The exhibition Judith Herzberg, “Bij elkaar gespijbeld” (Together at play) opens on Saturday 18 October at 4.30 p.m. at Christian trouwens Galerie on Eendrachtsweg.”
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(Translated with DeepL.com)
