The paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photographs of Mariëtte van Erp are deeply lived-in works. They are never distant or purely observational. For her, seeing is an act of surrender—of absorbing what is before her—and this shapes her relationship to land, life, and existence. Alongside the freshness and directness of her work—colorful, physical, engaged, and personal—there is always something elusive. The strength of her artistry lies in her complete familiarity with that uncertainty. She faces it head-on.
Born in 1953 in Gemert and raised on a farm, Van Erp was deeply affected from an early age by both the intimacy and the violence of rural life. Drawing and making became her refuge. Encouraged early on, she developed an instinctive, physical way of working that strips away excess to reveal what is essential.
Since the early 1980s, she has worked as a professional artist. Her work has a strong, unmistakable signature and is rooted in the Brabant landscape—earthy in material, sensitive in touch, and grounded in craft. Nature, transience, and the cycle of life are central themes, experienced directly by working outdoors and by surrendering to what unfolds.
Her art is not a record of what is seen, but a felt experience—an attempt to grasp what cannot be seen, only sensed.
Alex de Vries, 2016