Drawings
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.
Framing Saarinen
The ‘framing series’ started with this one: ‘Framing Rietveld‘. Four more followed to arrive at ‘Sleep‘. An unintended side effect, especially if the frame is relatively large/wide in relation to the drawing, is that the frame then seems to fold back as a plane on which the image is drawn. An exploration also of whimsical frame shapes, although in this case too it is debatable to still speak of drawing and frame. The Tulip chair (manufactured by the American Knoll) by Eero Saarinen is then a very suitable starting point. A tribute.
Solo simili
Levelen V,(Leveling) where the tube frame appears drawn but is cut out, where the shadow effect still gives the shape the metallic color (or is that just projection based on conditioning?) which I made earlier this year, forced me kind of to go even further. That work challenged me to investigate whether it could be done with even less. A sample convinced me and here is the result: Solo simili. Simili refers to the paper used, namely simili japon. This is from the Dutch paper factory Schut.
The most concerned with his own reflection is certainly the Greek mythical figure Narcissus. The famous Italian painter Caravaggio made a masterful painting about it. This graceful chair turns its back on us, but in a detour its downside is clearly visible to us. In painting, the use of mirrors or reflective surfaces has a long tradition. An impressive example is Las Meninas by the Spanish painter Diego Velazquez from 1656. However, depicted in this sober way, in addition to the mirroring, the focus is also entirely on the chair depicted and on the frames. This combination forms an image that we know in many variations from popular culture.
Gerrit Rietveld’s Zigzag or Z chair is displayed somewhat atypically in this viewing cabinet. Adequate protection against too much incident light, you would say. However, the deep shadow contradicts this. And the chair is completely painted or better meaning in pencil. Does that make it a pencil drawing?