Today I spent the afternoon outdoors, walking and sniffing, like dog in search of a lost bone: where is spring? where is that smell of spring, of the earth opening up and early green? The weather was mild, grey though, with some drizzle. Except for that one sunny spell! And the way it cast shadows was amazing: they were as black as the bare branches beaten by winter, and the path became a black and white maze of light and shadow.
It reminded me of this. The work of artist Carlijn Mens, who performs exactly this kind of magic with charcoal on paper. She tends to work in life size, she even goes out there with huge sheets of paper and traces the shadows. But that makes it sound too easy, there’s more to that. She captures the bright light with an intriguing black fuzziness; a mesmerizing contrast.
I think Carlijn’s work is very powerful, and she left art school only in 2009, making her definitely someone to watch!!
