Els moes

4. july 1950

Before her studies at the Haarlem Art Academy, Els Moes was involved in archaeological research.

The influence of her archaeological experience is noticeable in her artwork. She applies oil paint in layers on canvases and leaves it to dry. Be repeating this time-consuming process, she models a relief structure which consists of a series of plastic lines respecting the preselected rhythm and angle.

The lines of the paint as well as the deliberate unevenness are breaking the falling light beams. This creates shadows and give to the reliefs a greater plasticity, often changes also the colour intensity. The canvas surface does not display the actual form of a particular thing, shape or action, but it captures the very course of formation. It is a portrait of the process of artwork creation itself.

The colour scheme of Els Moes artworks is close to monochrome expression. Her canvases are black or white, other colours are used very carefully. Black and white structured surfaces do reflect light that becomes the cocreator of the artwork.