These drawings, which appear in di Umbris, a dossier of Gerard Bellaart drawings just published by Moloko, were not intended as commentary on current events. But I can’t shake the sensation that they are.
left: pendu (after Manzu) 2024 color pencil & casein tempera 48 x 38 cm.
right: ex voto (wheel of fortune) 2024 color pencil & casein tempera 48 x 38 cm.
I believe that due to his own natural reclusive and self-effacing tendencies, and his adamantine and singular devotion to his gifts, Bellaart (even his name is suggestive) remains the creator of one of the most original and enigmatic bodies of work, as yet little known beyond a small, privileged coterie, that still awaits to be revealed and become known to a much wider world.