Paintings
Cardinal
Cardinal shows an abstract image of rows of stately seats, seen from behind, with armrests and plush upholstery. He’s not there and neither are his colleagues, the cardinals, but their authoritarian, totalitarian spirit is overwhelmingly present. This tendency, that association with an institution, is not obvious when you only look at the properties of the image. Rather, there is an exciting rhythm of surfaces, lines and colors that convincingly also maintains its power when the image is rotated in other positions. (from ‘Chairs and Titles’ by Chris Manders in the book All in the Family).
Arena
If you then climbed the Tower of Babel or Tower of Babel II after a long exhausting climb and you look over the edge, could it look like this?
Siamese shadow II
The shade of both chairs, of which only the top can be seen, reveals more. However, it flows so seamlessly into that of the same chair that it is actually one shade.
Siamese chair
For inseparable children who want to share everything they are supposed to eat.
Pas de deux IX
Together with Pas de deux VII, these are the last of a series that I still have in my possession. I all cases connecting two of the same chairs in any way, associations arise with dance figures and/or dance movements.
Doors of perception
A play with space and light. The passe-partout, which normally only serves to properly protect the work in a frame, is given a substantive role here. The space we are in does not reveal anything except the openings to the space or spaces we look out on. Light and shadow are thrown into our space.
Tower of Babel II
After the first Toren van Babel, somewhere in the back of my mind, a feedback about a true Tower of Babel is so overwhelming and should be present that it is one with and rises from the land (-ship) of which it is part. Stronger what he is with that. The impression that the Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel I (Museum Boymans-Van Beuningen Rotterdam) made on me also plays a major role in this. This, at least for me, was more or less ‘primal tower’ round and my first tower was not.
At some point drawing the spiral, which is now the top, I thought in a flash that such a shape could go on endlessly outwards.
The amazing thing is that I ended up with a birds eye view, which is less obvious if you want to draw an imposing tall shape. See the first version that is drawn from a low point of view, or frog perspective.
Pas de deux VIII
Two of the same chairs create a connection: for example, they share a leg or the backrest overlap. For me this immediately resulted in associations with dancing. A dance for two or a pas de deux. From the ensemble to be exhibited as a block of four or six, this one, with Pas de deux IX, is the last remaining until ….
Train seats
Commission
(Not for sale)
A second child! This will of course come to the fore. There is already one child that is also pulled by the parental train. Where else do you end up if one of the two parents is employed at the railways?
Perpetuüm mobile II
A backrest of a chair casts its shadow. This twists with the turning of the sun. By fixing that shadow, you capture something of the moment, and one more and another. Around the clock and again the next day, etcetera.
See also Zenith, Vault en Perpetuüm mobile III.
The last supper II
In the Last Supper I make use of the shadow as a narrative part of the image. In Shadowdancing and Shadowdancing II I reduced the shapes by choosing the position straight from above, almost to a geometric shape. Due to the use of light (contrast) they light up like a kind of jewelry. Here, the 12 jewels are arranged around an oval table and, in particular because of their shadow, they give off some of their appearance.
Shadowdancing II
In my opinion, the smaller work Shadowdancing called for a more monumental but above all more colorful edition. More colorful to do more justice to a dancing or disco with many colors of light in a dark room. And with everyone present just as colorfully ‘dressed to impress’, so to speak.
See also Shadowdancing III.
Conspiracy IV
A table lit from above casts its shadow on the floor in an otherwise dark room that reveals nothing else. The chairs are quite recognizable because of the shade. Have a seat?