An Eye for Art: Hanka Wolterstorff – ‘De golfslag van Coronie’

In collaboration with art critic Rob Perrée, Readytex Art Gallery has developed an informative initiative: An Eye for Art. Once every two weeks Rob Perrée discusses a work of art from the collection of Readytex Art Gallery. This week he talks about ‘De golfslag van Coronie’ [The waves of Coronie], ceramics, 60 cm wide x 38 cm high x 32 cm deep, 2011, from Hanka Wolterstorff.

Hanka Wolterstorff, ‘De golfslag van Coronie’ [The waves of Coronie], ceramics, 60 cm wide x 38 cm high x 32 cm deep, 2011 – USD 300 / PHOTO Readytex Art Gallery/William Tsang

Whether as an art lover you like it or not, the traditional boundaries of art are gradually blurring under the influence of the internet and social media. Many young people in particular, are not concerned about whether something is art, or is considered art, or not. They are faced with so many images on a daily basis, that they see them as one large image databank, which you can tap into freely. Because you consider it beautiful, cool, or because it speaks to you for some other reason. And then there are so many accessible gadgets and devices easily within reach, that anyone can make a film or a photograph. So how so artist? The boundaries between artists and handy amateurs are fading as well.

On the other hand there are increasingly more artists who use art forms that previously belonged more to well meaning amateurs. There is currently much knitting, embroidering, crocheting, sculpting and knotting of carpets going on. These developments are not only inevitable, they are also interesting, because artists force themselves to think and operate differently. They are interesting because they increasingly refer the artificial differences between ‘high art’ and ‘low art’ to the past.

For those free-thinking viewers and artists, it would be good to take notice of the work of an artist such as Hanka Wolterstorff (Hoorn, 1943). She knows how to use ‘ordinary’ clay to make objects such as this ‘De golfslag van Coronie’ [The waves of Coronie] from 2011. Objects that seem to move, that suggest rather than copy the reality, that regardless of their sometimes compact and tough material can express a lightness and a vulnerability, and which are capable of seducing the viewer without adapting to conventional tastes. In short, she knows how to make the most of the quality and the characteristics of her material, in an inventive and creative way.

Although she uses a lot of colors in some of her other objects, for this work she choose only a limited amount of dark colors, which do however harbor many nuances within. Similar to how water can also be colorful in its apparent monotony.

TEXT Rob Perrée, Amsterdam, February 2015

TRANSLATION Cassandra Gummels-Relyveld, 2015

Want to see this and other work of Hanka Wolterstorff ‘up close and personal’? That’s possible at Readytex Art Gallery, Steenbakkerijstraat 30, Paramaribo. www.readytexartgallery.com. For more information about Hanka Wolterstorff please visit the website http://readytexartgallery.com/hankawolterstorff.