Birgitta van Drie (Amersfoort, 1974) paints and draws what looks like a
fairytale world. Birds, animals, fantasy figures and attractive, acrylic-clad
girls in sparkling colors populate the surface of her paper. But behind all
this gaiety, constant danger threatens. Violence, grief and fear lurk behind
every tree. The double floor lends dark, disquieting undertones to her work.
In past few years she has sketched dozens of small, cartoon-like drawings
which she publishes at her website, www.electricfriends.nl. But lately
Birgitta has switched her attention from sketchbook and crayons to
large-format skins of paper and acrylic paint, producing big, colorful works.
They feature a black sense of humor and an eye for visual detail. Birgitta can
use any source. What counts is that the work stems from herself. For this
reason, she never works direct from photograph or film, still less from
visible reality. Instead, she portrays only her own recollections. Her method
of doing this is concentrated improvization or, better, écriture automatique.
The surrealists used this technique to switch off reasoning, in an attempt to
allow a greater role for the unconscious in the creative process.
She is an admirer of the British artist, David Shrigley (1968). The butt of
his absurdist strips are the trivial, the hysterical, the conceited and the
mad. Birgitta van Drie's large drawings seem an effortless blend of highly
cultured fine art with the accessibility of Shrigley’s cartoons, comic strips
and animations in general and with girls and fairy tale illustrations. Her
work combines bold brush strokes and strong areas of color with transparent
films of paint, thin lines and decorative patterns. Thus her light and
effervescent drawings come across as both classical and contemporary. Her work
fuses illusionist, atmospheric elements with graphic, decorative motifs. Her
disturbing world is full of charming riddles.
Birgitta van Drie has lived and worked in Maastricht since 1992. She graduated
from the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts in 1996. In 2006, she gave a solo
exhibition in the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht. Collections featuring her
work include the Bonnefantenmuseum, the Atrium Medical Center in Parkstad, and
various private collections.
Source: Paula van den Bosch, April 2006
