Drawings
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.
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.
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?
Carrousel II
This Carrousel II was actually made as a sketch at the same time as Carrousel. Because I didn’t have the frame for this one yet, unlike Carrousel, it was completed a little later. But there is more because in this drawing I have again used the cutting technique and also mounted the circle of chairs in front of the background, giving the light the opportunity to subtly influence the drawing. It creates subtle confusion.
Carrousel
Handrails stretch towards each other until they connect. Six chairs merge into one piece of furniture. I have notoriously bad experiences with spinning, I can’t handle it very well. One of my older memories (first year of kindergarten) is about dancing in a circle. The carousel at the village fair. Yet a rotating circle definitely has its beauty as long as I only have to draw it…
Mirror III
In 2013 I made Spiegel II and I already had the idea to try it with an ellipse, an oval frame. An oval can also be interpreted by the eye, the viewer, as a circle in perspective. The only problem for me was , you just don’t make an oval frame or better two very easy. A least not from solid woord. Recently, while googling, I came across Achter de dijk in Schagen, North Holland. They make round and oval frames in various sizes from good quality wood. I immediately ordered a few tot try them. Apart from painting, I only edited the small frame a bit so that I can drop it into the ‘glass’.
Rolstoelen
There are roles that we all know. Which we all use several times a day. Also paper indeed. Material that is also very important to me in another way. I draw on it and I also work with it in some of my drawings. See, for example, Blend also from 2024. But working on this drawing associations with other more mythical roles pop up in my head. Roles, or better scrolls, that are also an important part of our culture. Scrolls that belong to the oldest carriers of knowledge, of writing: The Dead Sea Scrolls. Other scrolls have also been in the news recently. Scrolls that became charred and buried under lava, rocks and ash as a result of the eruption of Vesuvius some two thousand years ago. Thanks to the ingenious use of artificial intelligence and scanning techniques, we can now read parts of it. I like to connect extremes (King, Emperor, Admiral… popla* knows them all) and like to play with the relationship between words and images. Check for example, Stoelgang elsewhere on this website, which is most applicable in this context. Two wheelchairs, a drawing I made in 2023 could also be called a precursor. In this way I share my knowledge with a role for every chair.
*Popla was a dutch manufacturer of toiletpaper/toilet rolls and this link leads to a (dutch) television commercial dating from the eighties.