Harpsichord  oil/canvas  22x31                                                                                                              

              In the visual arts the play of light is one of the big themes. Think of Caravaggio,s still-lives ,Willem Maris,s cows,and the                   portrets by the Danish painters Kobke and Eckesberg. According to Weissenbruch light and sky are the great                                   magicans,and  Willem Maris once said   I don,t paint  cows ,but catchers of light".  "This also applies to Edwin Aafjes.
              He paints solidified light,the magic moment in which nature strikes and to which the artist must react. It is this magic                     moment that lasts much shorter than it takes to paint it.  Painting is reflection,contemplating the possibilities,and                           perhaps even transforming,arranging,erasing,because the image itself suffices.
   
              Edwin Aafjes is a master of the chiaroscuro,the interplay between daylight and dusk,between shine and shade,between                 moonlight and night.  

              Edwin Aafjes also paints silence. Silence tends to speak for itself,although it has become a rare entity. 
              In Aafjes,s still-lives  silence is the second protagonist: the sun touches a vase,a glass, a book; it falls upon a garden,
              a terrace with a view of cypresses and pine trees. No-one is there. Just that single,superior instant in which the light                       caresses a glass table top, a tree trunk,and together with the artist you hold your breeth.                                                                                                                                                                 
              Thanks to Dr J Sillevis (text)
                                WordsWorth Editing and Translating.