The work of Ria de Henau, indisputably rooted in hyperrealism, soon gained the admiration and support of art critics, which has enabled her to exhibit around the world.
Resulting from an active process of reflection and execution that sometimes lasts months, her works often invite us to feel the sound and freshness of water, to make contact with the stones and the turbulence of the waves.
The abundance of detail gives us a reassuring sense of boundlessness.
As an ode to nature, a salute to eternity and harmony, her art takes us on a journey, but also points out how vulnerable our planet is.
In such characteristic themes as the sea, this Ghent artist questions our constantly changing world. She laments that “we too often forget nature”.
To her, water is more than a heavenly reflection.
The painting of water effects at first seems extremely simple; it is considered a subject that is easy to reproduce.
Water is a dominant theme in all art. In myths it is a source of life and a universal symbol of abundance and fertility. From Greek philosophy to Impressionist painting, water has been a life-giving source for every artistic imagination.
The theme of ‘water’ has always appeared to be extraordinarily contemporary throughout art history, for example in photography.
It invites us to reflect on the ecological, scientific and philosophical dimensions of water.
In her latest series relating to water, Ria de Henau brings about a different sort of connection for all our senses. Painting to her signifies above all a manifestation of energy. She shows us that the drops of water, the bubbles and their reflections all keep to the laws of geometry.
With perfect realism, her painting summons up a sense of weightlessness as if we had dipped our heads under water.
Why depict the transparency and slow blurring of water?
Why emphasise the malleability, the fluidity and the transparency of water in its solid form as ice, its foam, its capacity to reflect nature when calm, its turbulence and waves in a rough sea?
For one single reason: water is the revelation of life. And is it not the artist’s role to make us see what is random and fragile?
Water is in essence musical, whether it produces the gentle crystalline sounds of a babbling brook or the mighty thunder of an immense waterfall.
It is thus no surprise that this artist, a fan of Claude Debussy, is sensitive to this natural element.
During her art studies, Ria thoroughly explored the techniques of the old masters. The more familiar she became with their way of working, the more she came to the surprising conclusion that an artwork is always the result of an inner journey.
As she says, “We are the children of our times and an endless motion”.
Her fascination with Buddhism and other sources of inspiration explains her sensitivity to contemplation, meditation and creation.
Her works are built up painstakingly layer by layer. She finds this approach “meditative and restful”. In her quest for the essence of the soul, she presents numerous themes, powerfully and full of inspiration, all expressed with a delicate refinement and eye for detail.
Hubert Reeves tells us that “on a cosmic scale, water is rarer than gold”.
Ria’s work is informed by those artists for whom water is a mirror, an expression of endless movement, illusion, excitement, the voicing of feelings.
But her fascination with water enabled her to find a means of expression for the profound experience of ‘feeling’ and to give shape to new works with an intense richness of colour and shimmering light.
Being close to and in love with nature, this artist has her own message for her contemporaries: “What sort of world do we want?”
The suggestion this series of works makes is: let us reconnect with nature, because, like the drop of water, one day we shall be pearls.
LUCIEN RAMA©
Art critic with IAA / UNESCO
January 2022
MPC GALLERY
ART XR NFT
AT TURNHOUT
ANTWERP
