Drawings
Gaming chair
What an obvious combination, actually, because the single-tube chair is essentially a course made of a metal rod or tube. Increase the difficulty a bit, and voila!
You can also practice a steady hand mentally, and this drawing is perfect for that.
Solo Simili III
“Simili” in the title comes from the paper I use for all my pencil drawings: “Simili Japon.” This paper was developed about a century and a half ago and takes its name from its similarity in color and quality to original Japanese paper, hence the “Japon” in its name. It’s a fine paper for pencil drawing, and yet in this case, I didn’t. In a sense, I drew with a knife, and by mounting it in layers, I leave the rest of the “drawing work” to the light. So, it’s essentially just paper that you’re presented with here, framed (though): Solo Simili. This work is related to Solo Simili and Solo Simili II, hence the “III.”
Siamese stoel II
A somewhat older desk or work chair. We know many variations of this. Nature saddles us now and then with aberrations where something has gone wrong in the cell division. A sheep with five legs, a calf with two heads or of course Siamese twins are clear examples of this. When you design and make something with your full mind, these kinds of ‘mistakes’ of course no longer occur. As a thought experiment and certainly also as a form it can be interesting or even challenging. The seat is already rising.
Schommel V
This drawing immediately refers back to an ‘older’ one entitled ‘Two-seater‘. Again a two-seater, that is immediately clear. But because of the circular connection a swing almost automatically arises. Just as swinging can give the feeling, albeit for a moment, that you are withdrawing from the laws of gravity, this also applies here in a certain sense to the dimensions. You seem to swing from one dimension to the other.
Anti materie
This design by Danish designer Arne Jacobsen is also called the Ant chair in English. There are both three and four-legged versions. For my ‘version’ the tripod was of course necessary. The combination of pencil drawing and carving and assembly in layers makes the originally wooden part of the chair drawn by the light. The frame follows the shapes of the chair and the perspective and thus makes the whole into a kind of (family?) coat of arms for this chair and therefore for Arne Jacobsen.
Space Shield
A razor-sharp linework in parts combined with more classical pencil drawing produces a layered work, also in a literal sense. For the more language-sensitive viewer there is also the title ‘Space Shield’. Of course a reference to the shape of the frame.
Draagstoel II
Sedan chairs you only see them in museums nowadays, a relic from times gone by. Now you can see the car as a modern version of a sedan chair, a self-driving one even. That development and the associated improvement of the road network manoeuvred the sedan chair into oblivion.
Another angle is a chair with a recess in the back so that it is easier to lift. You often see these in catering- and school situations. See for example Duet and Duet II or Snorrenstoel.
Solo Simili II
By working in layers I can also build up a drawn chair similar to my previous drawing Solo Simili. Well ‘drawing’… Literally only the signature is drawn that is if you see writing as a form of drawing (for the purists). Of course you can also draw more broadly with a knife and there are many examples of that starting somewhere in prehistoric times. Backrest and seat in one plane and the tubular frame in the other. The light then ‘draws’ so beautifully.
Twee dimensies
Playing with dimensions is something I do quite often. In this case you get a clear two-dimensional image partly made with three-dimensional parts. The result is simply alienating. This tubular frame chair, which I know from the beautiful exhaustive overview of the tubular frame chair by Otakar Macel, lends itself perfectly to this.
Pas de deux XVI
This sixteenth Pas de deux definitely belongs in the series because just like the other fifteen, both chairs share a part somewhere or they touch each other on one spot. Just like in a pas de deux when both partners also alternate very intense and then again extremely subtle contact with each other. Yet this one is also very different from the other fifteen.
For those who are interested: Where is that in?
Mail me your answer via the contact page and you will receive a book in return.
Steppin’ out
Entering another world is inherently what you intend with a drawing. Conversely, that world can also want to enter ours. Just impose your will on a world, that is not easy.
Spel
I have been advocating for real encounters with art for many years. You have to be there to experience it. The disadvantage of art is that you are not allowed to touch it, while that touchability, being able to play with it, enhances the experience. Certainly for children. And I often receive groups when I exhibit, I make an effort for that. Playing with art; a series of drawings, 36 to be precise, with which you can play a game to determine how it will be hung. Try to make units of three where a similarity you find determines the choice. Then explain this to your opponents, especially if it is not clear. You can determine the rules of the game yourself or delve into the game Set, that comes closest. There is not one solution.
Incidentally, apart from the fact that they are (existing) chairs, there is one similarity between all 36 unique chairs.
