World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 479 - Catherine Aerts-Wattiez
catherine aerts – 1-
World Fine Art Professionals and their Key-Pieces, 479 – Catherine Aerts-Wattiez
Catherine Aerts-Wattiez from Périgueux, France, showed boxes of her secret notebooks of the year 2023 in the Packaging exhibition at Art Center Schiedam. The boxes were painted in colors such as light and dark brown, light blue, light green. The seasons of the year seemed to pass by. Occasionally some words could be seen.
catherine aerts – 2–
They are secret notebooks, she says when we ask her for some explanation. Catherine: “The series started during Covid and lockdowns. They are illustrations in which I reflect on my family, the secrets, unspoken thoughts, being locked up in that time and the withdrawal from myself. They are also archives, secret files, diaries. What remains of a life? From a generation? Sometimes it’s just a notebook.”
catherine aerts – 3–
The traces of time
Her work revolves around memory, traces of time, but also the fragility of our lives. Concern about the vulnerability, but also the suffering and sorrow of certain lives, led her to work on very thin paper, paper without great value.
catherine aerts – 4–
“It’s my favorite paper, I even like the sound it makes. It reconnects me with my emotions. I edit it on both sides, I saturate it with chalk ink and write. Then I hang it up, fold it, paste it… make books out of it.”
catherine aerts – 5–
The paper sheet takes on lifelike quality
The sheet of paper lying on the table in front of her takes on a lifelike quality. “It is already smeared with all traces of previous work. After working on both sides, the sheets of paper gradually take on humanity, that is, they become like our lives!”
catherine aerts – 6–
This is also life. “I cannot separate myself from what I personally experience and everything that happens around me and us. I try to make that visible and understand what our presence in the world brings about. I not only want to show the emotion, but also transcend.”
catherine aerts – 7–
She could call the secret notebooks a key work, because it is an important work, but in addition there are other works and series. “It is the inner path that is important, and every work is part of it.”
catherine aerts – 8–
Showing without words what connects us
After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Metz, Lorraine and training in textile design in Paris, Catherine had a decoration company that included textile printing. In 2009 she was given space for her visual art again, because the economic crisis had put an end to her small business. “Somehow I have always created my universe.”
catherine aerts – 9–
Catherine: “Art is my way of thinking and telling stories. But I like to take it a step further, beyond the level of ‘knowledge’. For me it is mainly about the more intimate and universal dimension, to show without words what connects us.”
catherine aerts – 10–
Images
1)portrait Catherine Aerts-Wattiez, 2) Detail copie, 3) Dossier secret, 4) Dossiers 1 copie, 5) livrets de famille copie, 6) livrets de famille copie, 7) secrets des plis copie, 8) terrain Jaune, 9) Terres anciennes n° 2 bis 100 x 130, encre et pastel sur papier sulfurisé, 10) Terres n°6 anciennes
https://www.catherine-aerts-wattiez.com/
https://www.instagram.com/aertscatherine/
https://stichtingkunstwerkt.nl/exposities/2024/packaging
https://inzaken.eu/2024/06/25/de-geheime-notitieboekjes-van-catherine-aerts-wattiez/
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