signed,dated and titled verso-oil on canvas 125 x 100 cm
Provenance and literature
Literature: H.Janssen a.o. Het Ontstellend Werk van Ad Gerritsen, Ede 2002, ill p.20 (64.04)
About the artist
Gerritsen primarily painted people. Every facial expression or posture of the subject suggests something; you always sense that something is going on. Upon closer inspection, his work is sometimes perceived as unsettling because it challenges and comments on the way we function in society. Ad Gerritsen portrayed figures on the fringes of society, such as criminals, but also vulnerable people like traumatized children, women who are being harassed, and psychiatric patients. Isolated from their surroundings, they always carry a deeper meaning within them that is not always easy to decipher. The paintings immediately captivate with their powerful colors. Unlike the photographs that Gerritsen often used as sources for his paintings, he wanted to break free from the chilling atmosphere of these images. “In a good painting, you are seduced by the beauty, the aesthetics, but there must also be something that makes it impossible to erase from your mind,” says the artist. Every work, no matter how austere or bare it may seem, contains multiple layers of meaning that relate to the controversial aspects of our daily lives, anywhere in the world.