About Mick van Schooneveld

“So, how strange it was, when one day Marianne came up to me and asked me what I thought of some titles she wanted to use for her new abstract paintings. Something very weird happened. While I was not at all pleased with her paintings, I found these titles were no less than a heavy insult to them. Which was pretty confusing, because why should I bother so much about some titles meant to fit paintings I did not like?”

“Obviously somewhere, in the darker corners of my mind, the abstract paintings of Marianne already had shown their hidden qualities to me. I wasn’t aware of that, untill Marianne came up to me with the worst kind of titles one can imagine. If to be used for those paintings.”

“I told Marianne. After a moment of silence she said: “Well, let’s see what you can come up with.” I was the poet about the house. So if anyone could come up with something useful, it should be me. But Marianne did not know about my lack of enthusiam as far as her abstract paintings were concerned. And I didn’t tell her.”

“I like certain complicated situations. And clearly this was one of them. Soon I found out that my dislike mainly housed behind my forehead. The parts of my mind - wherever they may be - from which my poetry came to me, appeared to be all eager and enthusiasctic about what her abstract paintings were showing me. Within a few days I found titles for the lot of them, with the exception of one.”

“When I showed my titles to Marianne she was amazed. She even became a little bit emotional, while I never had seen her emotional in whatever situation concerning her art. One way or the other I had hit the artistic-psychological nail right on the head for every painting. It was way beyond anything she could have ever expected.”

“The emotional reaction of Marianne had everything to do with the fact that I seemed to be able to show her what she had been able to paint, but did not understand herself. My titles kind of showed her the depths she had felt through and through while painting, but would never be able to point out, not even to herself.”

“One of the most impressive moments of my life. In fact it surprised me too that I was able to tell Marianne what was happening at the deeper levels of her art. As a poet I was already familiar with the labour of the unconscious, but this surpassed everything I already experienced from it. Never had I experienced so strong the fact that I lived a complete life unknown to my conscious self.”

“I immediately realized that the new art of Marianne was hiding qualities of an enormous penetrating power. But it was only when I felt oblidged to reveal these qualities that I really began to see how far reaching they were.”

“We were already for quite some time togheter. I knew painting was important to Marianne, but I did not know how important. I was very much minding my own businesses. Having had an upbringing in which I did not get any cultural background, I had to conquer the basics of such a background myself. Which took lots of time and energy and focus.”

“As long as I had known Marianne, she had painted figuratively. As far as I was concerned she suddenly began to paint abstract elements. Later on you understand there were already signs of abstraction in her figurative work, but at that moment it seemed they suddenly entered her paintings.”

“I did not like these abstractions in the least. Quite frankly, I thought Marianne was losing it, artistically speaking.”

“We never spoke about her painting. That was completely her own business. Stronger. If ever I dared to comment something I noticed in her paintings, it irritated her. Far from being a submissive person, even to my own wife, I now understand she recognized the complete lack of insight on my behalf.”

Meta-art: only the nonsensical makes sense.

Photo: Frits Houben