2017
Cheese 0/10
This drawing ‘Cheese’, of course referring to the moment just before a photographer takes his shot for a portrait, was the reason for an assignment. Making this drawing in an edition of 10. The agreed 10 have been delivered to client Wonderwood in Amsterdam. This one, the starting point, remained. Therefore 0/10 which means there are actually eleven. Connoisseurs will of course immediately recognize Cees Braakman’s SB02.
Reflection
A chair mirrors, the more the entire diptych is mirrored. The next step in a series of works in which mirroring is the key. Spiegel and Spiegel II are other examples.
I’m not a chair
Rietveld II
Usually, for me, the pencil drawing precedes a watercolor. That is not because the pencil drawing is a preliminary study. While drawing, I see that a certain idea also has potential in color and (usually) works well or even better on a larger scale. In this case, it was the other way around. I had been struggling for quite some time with the background of a watercolor I was working on at the time. After having tucked it away in a drawer for at least half a year, I decided on a radical intervention when I took it out again. I simply cut away the residual shapes between the Z-chair pattern. All or nothing! That turned out to be a stroke of genius, because by mounting it in front of a (also watercolored) plane with some space in between, the light comes into play, creating a pleasant confusion: Rietveld. As far as I was concerned, that had pencil drawing potential too.
Drilling chair
A framed drawing annex luxury bookcase seemed to me a suitable gift for people who made a substantial contribution to my book ‘All in the family‘. I liked that so much that it was the start of a series. This was one of the first. My own office chair combined with a drill.
Ejection seat III
See Duet II, Pin and Hole, Fanzone and Painter’s Chair III.
So this drawing includes that book.
Perpetuüm mobile III
A series of linked chairs are depicted from the (round) edge in such a way that the armrests form a kind of inwardly turned gear wheel. The opening offers a view of a kind of galaxy that intensifies the cyclical movement. No beginning, no end, just time.
Rocking chair IV
Perhaps the fourth and most curious in the series of rocking chairs. The drawn chair joins with the frame and thus becomes a kind of pamphlet against the wall. A pamphlet for the arts!
Rietveld Refurbished
The somewhat spartan Redblue chair by Rietveld could be handled by an unwitting enthusiastic furniture maker for more comfort. Still, it does rub even if I just draw it. Gerrit Rietveld turning in his grave?
Framing Rietveld
The first Framing Rietveld from 2017 was the reason for a series in 2019. This one preceded the other four, although I didn’t know that at the time. It ended up above the ‘bed’ of the ‘and breakfast’ in B&B-gallery De Kunstpraktijk in Veldhoven, as part of my exhibition there in the summer of 2019. When exhibited as ‘Sleep’, a good night’s sleep guaranteed!
See Framing Rietveld II, III, IV en V.
Dalton’s Detentie
Anyone even slightly familiar with the world of comics certainly knows Lucky Luke. And then you also know one of the most formidable criminals who always cross paths with his via the wrong path: the Daltons. One of the best discoveries, as far as I am concerned, is the escape of these crooks. Instead of making one hole in the wall and crawling through it one after the other, these villains each make their own hole. That is why I assign each of them their own cell in this work.
Pas de Deux X (Balancing Berkovich)
One of the most recent in a long series of ‘dance duets’ between two chairs of the same type. All works in this series, mostly watercolors but also some pencil drawings, are characterized by the fact that two chairs of the same type meet at some point and there merge entirely in the spirit of an intense pas de deux. In this case it is a chair designed by Elmar Berkovich.
Pas de Deux XI
The most recent in a long series of ‘dance duets’ between two chairs of the same type. All works in this series, mostly watercolors but also some pencil drawings, are characterized by the fact that two chairs of the same type meet at some point and there merge entirely in the spirit of an intense pas de deux. In this case it is a chair designed by the Dane Arne Jacobsen.
Babel try out
Quartet II
Patterns of the crowd. Seats in an empty stadium or theater gently sloping for optimal visibility. The choice for this extremely horizontal format has everything to do with this and further increases the tension between the quartet and the audience in the hall. The chosen color scheme and the contrast in it underline this.
For all the chairs (except for the quartet) three molds are used, left, frontal and right.
Rietveld III
Gerrit Rietveld’s other equally famous chair, the Zigzag chair, also turned out to fit well in an isometric grid. So after Rietveld, completely full of zigzag-chairs, now these completely full of redblue chairs.