Paintings
Ik ben geen stoel
An unmistakable expression of this chair, ehh, drawn chair. A playful reference to the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte and in particular to his famous painting ‘Ceci n’est pas une pipe‘.
Is a drawn chair just as much chair? Mentally, yes, then it is the image in your head. But if you want to sit on it? I find this crossing from concept to image to archetype and back again very fascinating. See, for example, the drawing ‘Strip’.
Conceived in an edition of 5, the first from 2017 has been sold. These four are all just completed. Of course I can make one in English, French, etc.
Thinking about…
One of the first members of the artists’ association Hoorn a.s. (that ‘and surroundings’ extends as far as at least Tilburg apparently) has come up with the idea of choosing a work from those members and having the other members respond to it with a work. No one else had any influence on the clutch. Everything was shown at the ‘Encounters’ exhibition in De Boterhal in Hoorn in honor of the association’s 50th anniversary. The Boterhal is the permanent operating base. I was handed a work by Paul Stap. Polychromed wood which he found in his backyard. Paul is (has been) a passionate diver.
‘Thinking of…’ is my reaction to the work of Paul Stap and was therefore shown at the exhibition.
Shadowdancing IV
From the glitter ball, which hangs in a classic disco central above the dance floor, we watch the shuffle and twist of the colorful crowd.
If you look closely, you will see a limited variety of points of view of a chair from above, that have been carefully composed like a piece of music. The eye of the beholder dances from spatial to flat and also along with the performance in search of logic or a pattern.
Stacking chairs II
At the beginning of this century I already drew a pencil drawing based on this triangle. The triangle is named after the British mathematician and physicist Roger Penrose, but was first drawn in 1934 by the Swede Oscar Reutersvärd. I therefore called that pencil drawing ‘To Reutersvärd’. Because in my paintings, in contrast to the pencil drawings, I somehow have to ‘do something’ with the background, the environment, this concept did not lend itself to a painting in my view. The spatial gain that I achieve by mounting the shape (s) separately from the background, as in Babels end and Babels end II, for example, also offered opportunities for a Penrose triangle with Stacking Chairs. Et voilà.
Babel’s end II
A carefully arranged chaos of unique chairs tumbles down thus forming a pattern. The pattern we know; haughtiness that invariably comes before the trap. It is an even more spatial version of Babels end with in this case three layers. The confusion and dynamics are reinforced by the shadows that change depending on the light source(s).
Does it look like this when for example the Tower of Babel III collapses?
School
If chairs can walk, run and rest, they might also be able to think, right? In the pencil drawings Comic, I am not a chair and Telepathy, the comic language clearly finds its entrance into my work. In this work, which is part of an unspecified series, we look at the thoughts of Mart Stam‘s S31. Is he thinking about his own school days?
On my mind II
If chairs can walk, run and rest, they might also be able to think, right? In the pencil drawings Comic, I am not a chair and Telepathy, the comic language clearly finds its entrance into my work. In this work, which is part of an unspecified series, we look at the fantasies of a graceful armchair by Thonet, whose thoughts turn to Rietveld’s sturdy crate chair.
Arachnofobia
If chairs can walk, run and rest, they might also be able to think, right? In the pencil drawings Comic, I am not a chair and Telepathy, the comic language clearly finds its entrance into my work. In this work, which is part of an unspecified series, we look at the fantasies of my ‘primal chair’.
Babel’s end
The proverbial Babylonische confusion of tongues results in too much leeway in the carefully stacked chairs of the Tower. This leads to decline and collapse that we are witnessing here.
I used the cutting technique, which I first applied in Rietveld and later on in Descendants, again to gain extra depth, a wonderful effect.
My Style
If chairs can walk, run and rest, they might also be able to think, right? In the pencil drawings Comic, I am not a chair and Telepathy, the comic language clearly finds its entrance into my work. In this work, which is part of an unspecified series, we look at the fantasies of Gerrit Rietveld‘s red-blue chair, who reflects on Theo van Doesburg‘s chair.
Rietveld refurbished V
Gerrit Rietveld’s most conceptual designs have not only a spartan appearance but also ditto seating characteristics. For real hardliners, placing a loose pillow is probably already more tha a bridge to far. What then to think of the upholsterer who has indulged himself here in Rietveld’s zigzag-chair? Of course in the colors of the house style though.
Rietveld refurbished IV
Gerrit Rietveld’s most conceptual designs have not only a spartan appearance but also ditto seating characteristics. For real hardliners, placing a loose pillow is probably already more than a bridge to far. What then to think of the upholsterer who has indulged himself here in Rietveld’s Berlin chair ? Well in the colors of the house Style though.
Spider III
The eight-legged Thonet chair that I made earlier as a pencil drawing in Spider asked for a more dynamic version to trigger the arachnophobes (see also ‘Arachnophobia‘). Two positions mixed together make the drawing a lot more mobile.De achtpotige Thonetstoel die ik eerder als potloodtekening maakte in Spin vroeg om een meer dynamische uitvoering om de arachnofoben (zie ook ‘Arachnofobia‘ nog wat meer te triggeren. Twee standpunten gemixt maken de tekening een stuk beweeglijker.
Intertwined past II
A variation in color on the pencil drawing Intertwined past with here (of course) the founding father of the cantilever chairs by Mart Stam, but this time interwoven with a design by Mies van der Rohe from 1927 executed by Thonet.
Due to the thickness of the paper, the deviation between the two images becomes increasingly larger towards the top and the bottom, which is why I started weaving from the middle.
Stampede
Another work in the cutting technique. This is a more chaotic variation on Descendants I and II. With these two all tubular frame chairs shown are drawn in the same direction. In this case, also from a perspective, it goes in all directions: chaos in the herd.
Time circle IIX
A whole series of brightly colored patio chairs form a kind of circle that revolve around the center like planets. Where are they located? And what happened? Sharp shadows suggest a bright light source, possibly the sun, after a very heavy shower. The thought of musical chairs also arises.