Cokkie Snoei exhibits the work of two artists who seem to find each other in the twilight zone between familiarity and alienation. The work of Keetje Mans looks mythological; Marie Reintjes' work seems much more mundane. Yet both share a certain dreaminess that gives all the incongruities in their art perfect sense – until you wonder what exactly you're looking at. In that way, their artworks undermine wonderfully your viewing experience.
The drawings and paintings by Keetje Mans (1979) look vaguely well-known. Her recent, particularly large canvases with female knights look familiar, but also raise questions due to their mythological and surrealistic nature. In her paintings and drawings, Mans often depicts interiors and scenery, apparently private zones that seem to lean into another world. Same goes for the shield maidens, who resemble the illustrations in books about the Middle Ages, with female knights such as Joan of Arc. In Mans's own words, these figures refer to the heroines around her: her friends, aunts and her own mother who bravely go through life. According to Mans, there is still not enough footage showing women as the heroes. In other paintings and drawings, spaces such as living rooms and cellars are reassembled as if in a dream. In one of the large drawings, both a watering can and a cloud water an almost screen-filling mysterious plant; bottom right is a decapitated head on a side table. It all seems so logical that the alienating elements are only noticeable at a second glance.
Marie Reintjes (1990) paints on the basis of photos, which is reflected in her framing and choice of everyday subjects: a found feather, a basketball net, traffic signs. The focus is not so much on the what – the anecdote or the story – but on the how: the lines, shapes and light of what she sees in front of her. The view of reality thus becomes a completely unique constellation, which regularly asks for different painting styles and aesthetic in order to best capture it in a painting. Reintjes' new paintings resemble traditional landscapes, but instead show highways and factory sites, often seen from the car. Because of this unexpected perspective, the view seems to be spread out, as it were. In quick, but measured brushstrokes, Reintjes depicts these almost trivial scenes in a way that becomes almost abstract and therefore forces you to look closely. Reintjes' gaze is infectious: do you recognize the shapes in the paintings as elements from everyday life? Or do you recognize starting points for new paintings in the world that surrounds you?
You are most welcome to come and explore these two very unique worlds. They may turn out to be more parallel to each other than you might initially think.
Maarten Buser