Finally, after many vicissitudes, the exhibition of the work of Tjaarke Maas at the Galleria delle Arti del Disegno has opened. As happened last year with Roberto Dragoni. Who would have thought it! Two young artists who share the same background of study, bound by the same need to express themselves through the language of painting, using brushes and colours. Tjaarke has entered the prestigious gallery with her old suitcase with wheels, packed with all the material necessary for painting, with finished paintings and others still to be completed. Almost impossibly full. Crammed with drawing after drawing, endless studies of pigeons depicted in every possible posture. Then, underneath, in another compartment, a series of portraits painted on panels like ancient icons. Depicted, like sacred apparitions, are her husband Yury, her friend Gaia, the faces of people, me, too, among them, with my gammy leg. All of us so fleeting, we are placed before the mystery of life. Then, in the back pocket of this amazing suitcase, paintings of still lives and flowers. The one with the fish and an old zinc tub is especially beautiful. Perfectly executed, it is the space of well-worn things, with the colours all arranged in the right place.  Everything is simple and humble, it is the essence of solitude, the solitude necessary for creation. To the point that Tjaarke, too, having added the last brush-stroke, on tiptoe, has left the painting ...