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Afstammelingen IV
What a goldmine the book 2100 tubular frame chairs (collectors item!) by Otakar Macel is for me. Certainly the cantilever as conceived by Mart Stam. This fits perfectly in an isometric grid. In this way I can combine Stam’s original version with many followers. I do not look so much at name, fame or country of origin but purely at form. Stam is again accompanied by his descendants in this fourth ‘Afstammelingen’ (Descendants).
Schaduwen III
Does this couple grab the countless spotlights? Judging by the large number of shadows, you would say yes. Another possibility is that two worlds come together here, the real one and that of the shadows. In any case, the shadow group forms a solid backup for the arm-in-arm pair of Thonet chairs. Are they the families who support a fresh new couple in the background and put them in the spotlight on this special day?
Gearmd
As a form, a repetition of that from Pas de deux XIV from 2023 and Pas de deux XV from 2024. I played the game with shadows earlier in the works Rising Revolt or Shadows. The arm-to-arm Thonet chairs feel as if they are supported in the back by the looming shadows. They push them forward, as if. A beautiful stage for a good conversation or a newlywed couple.
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.
Babel IV
Cutting away the residual shapes when I arrange or stack chairs started with Rietveld and has since conquered its place in my way of working and also thinking. In a small drawing like Backwards or in a large work like Tijdkring X. When cutting out, I also try to push my boundaries. Reason to dust off the starting point behind Babylonian score from 2018. Spatial and flat interwoven in several ways into a subtle fabric that subtly seems to move with changing light.
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.
Tijdkring X
In a sense, you can see the curved furniture as Thonet invented it as a precursor or, if you like, a preliminary stage of the tubular frame chair. In my work it worked the other way around. First the connection to a ‘multi-seating object’ of the tubular frame chair as recently with Tijdkring IX but also earlier with Tijdkring VII, VI and even earlier Tijdkring III (2007). In this work, as with no. IX, I used the cutting technique by making part of the image separately on watercolor-cardboard and mounting this part later. The shadows that are created this way provide a pleasant tingling sensation but also some confusion for the viewer. I briefly considered calling this work ‘Thonetwork’ but that went too far for me, although of course it is that.
Insiders will recognize Thonet no. 14, which has here interlocked the armrests, thus preventing this gathering from becoming too relaxed. Because leaning back is out of the question.
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.
Pas de deux XV
The pencil drawing Pas de deux XIV asked, even screamed to my mind, for a place in the series of pas de deux watercolours. Added to Pas de deux X, Pas de deux XI and the somewhat older Pas de deux IX and actually also older versions that have since found a home elsewhere. The choice for a ‘back figure’ also imposed itself. Despite this wood bent by Thonet, they straightened their backs and, strengthened by each other, enter a future that we do not yet see. In the meantime we know that this future was rich and still is, this chair is still as popular as ever and is still produced. Who knows what the future will bring?
