Roger Henri Marijnissen on the pen and ink drawings of Anne van Herreweghen
Whispered
Never has art been produced on such a vast scale and never has it been written about so much. Despite all the hullabaloo and waffle about art, there is undeniably a consensus about the autonomy of the artist. Choosing the requisite mode of expression is a privilege. Environment, disposition, training, temperament and vision are all determining factors. Some feel the need to convey their message by shouting or cursing. Others choose to sing their emotions or just relate them. Anne van Herreweghen has chosen to whisper them.
A frog plopping into the pool
gives shape to the silence.
Where can we still hear this?
Few people these days are receptive to it.
The paper-thin present between what was and what is to come. The roar of an engine. Machinery. The eardrum is no match for it. The reverberating rhythm of the rat race. Anyone who avoids drowning in the drivel will one day realise: a whisper can be louder than a shout.
Roger Henri Marijnissen
Member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts
Text published in the catalogue of the exhibition Whispers to Europe, 2012