MARIETTE VAN ERP

Mariëtte van Erp (1953), lives and works in her hometown Gemert, The Netherlands. Van Erp studied at the AIVE in Eindhoven (1982) and Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht (1985), and with a grant from the Frans van Walsum – Constant van Renesse fund she completed a year long internship at the graphic studios in Arnhem (1983). Her work is part of public collections such as the Brabant Collection (Tilburg University) and the collection of Huis Henk Visch (Eindhoven). Van Erp’s work was on display at, among others, Museum Belvédère (Heerenveen) and Museum de Wieger (Deurne).

Mariëtte van Erp’s work is part of a long tradition of landscape art from Noord-Brabant. Simultaneously however, through her unique mentality of observing and working, the artist breaks this tradition wide open. For her, a painted landscape is not just the sum of its parts; it is a flow of energy that unfolds within the interaction between things, within wind and light. – Text by Janet Meester

Mariëtte van Erp likes to do her drawing right in the midst of her landscape surroundings. The soil is wet, the fields are dotted with crops. Poplars populate the horizon. They grow fast before they’re being chopped down. Nothing stays the way it is. Things transform, things pass, things are fleeting. Her work however, stays constant. It provides a rare and lasting image. Van Erp becomes part of the landscape by dissolving in it, by undergoing whatever presents itself and by being conscious of the part she plays. She draws, paints and portrays her environment with everything she has to offer. She works this way because it’s in her nature. It’s about grasping everything that one can’t see, but only feel. – Text by Alex de Vries