Capturing the brightest light with the deepest charcoal black, Carlijn Mens weaves a tapestry of enigmatic complexity. Shadows dance and sway, transforming trunks, branches, and leaves into ever-shifting silhouettes. In time and space, she follows, casting a web of black on white and light out of darkness, tracing the shadows that nature and life outline on earth, branches, leaves, plants, floors, walls, and sheets of paper. Her own body is intricately involved in this performance of shadow and light. It often appears in the images – an instrument of observation, a reality that leaves behind traces and brings other bodies into presence. Body, charcoal, and paper together create an endless field to be traversed.
I once watched Carlijn drawing in her studio. I saw her lines being drawn and smudged, contours being formed, blacks and greys being applied and then erased, replaced by other greys and new whites. What struck me: with one movement, she accomplishes five things simultaneously. Every action, every second is multifaceted.
www.ftn-books.com has the GEM invitation for her exhibition available.
