Artists:		Dick Oostra
Techniques:		pencil/acryl
Date of exhibition:		November 14 - December 14, 2003

Dick Oostra, Wetlands near Wierum, 2003, acryl/paneel, 35x122 cm. | zoom |

It would seem that mankind is scared to death of silence, as the whole earth is throbbing, steaming, roaring, banging, crackling and chattering right up to the borders of heaven. So much so that the Great Creator can barely keep his ear to His ground to listen to the goings-on. Fortunately there are still some small, down-to-earth creators who nevertheless manage to find the last vestiges of silence. And who are able to catch them. In paint. One of them is Dick Oostra (1946). To do so he commutes between the Northern wetlands of the Netherlands and the Southern warmlands of Bretagne, Cevennen or Morvan. Only recently he also sailed westwards to the Irish regions. He did so in the ancient wake of a handful of monks, who migrated to these stubborn rocks, because there pure silence still reigned. Even back then, in the 5th century A.D. silence was scarce.

The unspoilt silence rustles, whispers, wafts through one's hair and starts a duet with one's silent inner voice. And this is fine. But can it be visualised? Can one paint silence? Undoubtedly, for silence has its residence. Once it was global, today only some rudiments remain. But whatever the landscape, we recognize it immediately. There is an emptiness which is not bare, there is a natural coming and going like the tide of the wetlands; there is a wind that makes the grass wave, and there is a vastness which Oostra underlines by choosing a elongated, narrow format. Panoramas of stillness.

Dick Oostra, Harbor Schier, 2003, acryl/paneel, 48x122 cm. | zoom |

Inevitably, this silence seems synonymous with hostility to man, for man is her greatest enemy. At the same time, man is the only species that can consciously enjoy silence. This might be one of the reasons that human traces are found in the work of Oostra. Traces in respectful proportions, like a small dyke-house, a bridge, a mooring post or a small church. Monuments of contemplation on the frayed edges of what could have been remained of paradise as it once existed.