schilderijen | annavangerve

paintings

Portraits (2025 - ...)

In this ongoing project, I paint portraits of close family and friends. The portraits are figurative and recognizable; everyone who is portrayed remains clearly identifiable. At the same time, the project goes beyond pure realism: color, composition, and brushwork are deliberately used to reveal the personality, emotions, and stories of the people depicted.

De Poolvulkaan

Een gedicht van J. Slauerhoff

Barre verlatenheid

Duldde ik eeuwen reeds

In gelatenheid,

Trotsch en uitgebrand.

Wolken sneeuwen steeds,

Zwaar en eindeloos;

Wit en eindeloos

Ligt het poolland rond.

't Laaiend Noorderlicht

In staalharden nacht

Houdt in mij de hoop

Dat een langre schicht

Mij inééns losscheurt uit mijn krater

En in vlammenvloed

Al het eeuwig ijs

Smelt tot groen, schuimbekkend water,

Waar ik rood en donker uit verrijs.

Hunger Stone (2024)

Hunger stone: a large stone or boulder that becomes visible in the riverbed or on the bottom of lakes during periods of extreme low water. The name arose because such severe droughts were feared to lead to famine.

(...) “Look, mama,” the boy says, “if I make it wet, it looks like I can do magic.”
He puts a finger in his mouth, wipes some spit onto the stone, and lifts it up with a grand gesture. In the center, a dark spot glistens—deep grey with brown speckles. The boy brings it close to his right eye, looks very serious, and thinks. He is squatting in a flow of stones. For two months now, not a cloud has appeared in the sky. Little to no water runs through the rivers. Ships can no longer pass, crops are failing, and nuclear power plant reactors have to be shut down. The drought threatens to become the worst in hundreds of years. (...)

Between land and sea (2023)

This project originated from a design competition for a new medal of honor from the municipality of Dijk en Waard. I designed two tokens: The Reclaimed Land in appreciation of long-term commitment to society and The Hydropower in appreciation of a special achievement. The latter was chosen as the winning design and will from now on find its way to people who have done something special or courageous for the municipality of Dijk en Waard. For the designs I looked at how the history of the municipality has determined the character of the area and how to translate this into an image. The tangle of islands of Langedijk, which originated from marshland, the tight allotment pattern of Heerhugowaard, the result of the reclamation of the Grote Waert lake, and the shape of the current municipality of Dijk en Waard were the guiding principles in the design. Together, the tokens represent the relationship between man and nature and a country created by man. The height differences in the design refer both to the natural process in which pieces of land are washed away by the water and to the human process of constructing dikes and draining areas.