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Fraternization
Four kitchen chairs are positioned tightly together, leaving a square vacant space in the middle, in such a way that it would be too close for comfort for several persons to seat themselves there. A continuous tubular circle connects the backs of the chairs. Nor will it be easy at all to sit down and relax within this arrangement. Annoyance is just around the corner, whereas the concept of fraternization really has another dimension. (All in the Family, Chris Manders, 2016)
Gizeh
Backlight and perspective are two challenges in this work. Though it offers fairness to say that the former was the largest. The low position makes the construction rise imposingly. By hiding the light sources from direct view, the backlight effect becomes stronger. It also emphasizes the individual ‘modules’ that make up this construction. By choosing this position with three vanishing points, a pyramid is visually created from a rectangular construction.
Babel interior
Standing in a huge building as I once did in the Gashouder in Oberhausen or in the Pantheon in Rome, such a space can overwhelm with the effect that you feel a little uneasy on the ground. I tried to imagine that feeling while moving into the interior of Tower of Babel II.
Time circle IV
Twelve handrails for each hour of the clock, just like a clockwork is a time circle. Like previous versions, this circle is also located in an ambivalent space. Is it water? Ice? The universe? Are the railings endlessly long or do they mirror? Is this a still and does the group wallow through the universe?
Chair in heaven
Three tubular frame handrails are forged together into a whole: a trinity. By painting (partly) vertically with generous paint, drippers have been created that in any case visually perceive the role of the legs. However, color and dripping technique also make an association with blood inevitable. Does this symbolize the suffering wrought in the name of the Trinity?
Circle
This drawing was created more or less simultaneously with Fraternization. Here it is purely the oval shape in relation to the round frame. Be sure to read Chris Manders’ comment there, who also applies to this work.
The long march
We see, as it were, a cut-out from a massive and almost endless row of swaying and swaying chairs. The reference to the founder of the Chinese communist party in the 1920s, Mao Tse-toeng, is evident. But such a title also allows for thoughts about other colossal movements of living beings. Like wildebeest on the African plains, or refugees flow through any kind of violence. (from the text ‘Stoelen en Titels’ by Chris Manders from my book All in the family.)
To reflect
Reflection is something that literally happens in the right circumstances. In a metaphorical sense, it is of course also an important property. Kind of a meta skill. The chair draws us into this scene through the overshoulder. We take a look at a (the?) Committee, the tribunal on the other side, a certain tension is felt and visible in this way.
Babel
Many chairs are seen from the side without any depth effect, purely as a silhouette, still immediately recognizable. That quality combined with the ability to stack them, if not in real life at least mentally, in a manner similar to my earlier linocut Stacking, yielded this image. Shapes run into each other over residual forms play a role and form a lively graphic image.
No chair occurs twice and so this is a true tower of Babel with all unique building blocks.
Detachment
Detachment, in idea and also a bit in form, akin to ‘Chair in heaven‘. The legs can still be seen on the bottom of the image. The chosen position suggests a movement away from these legs. The rest chooses the airspace and has detached themselves from the earthly.
Rebuilding III
Everything hidden from view by canvases, protected against dust and paint (the splashes clearly visible), the renovation was radical. My subject literally went under sail for months because all the energy went into the renovation. I sporadically recorded something from that period. Those impressions were the first thing I got out of my hands when the canvases were pulled up and the dust was sucked away, making the studio workable again.
Vault
One of the many round works that I have made. Just like earlier Zenit (2004) and later Zitten bij Itten and Perpetuüm mobile a never-ending cyclical movement. Here the performance goes into depth because the railings are getting smaller and smaller. The light enhances this and turns the whole into a kind of vault.
Locomotive
Wheelchair, high chair, train seat to mix up a bit with some familiar elements. Actually exactly what I did a lot with my young children with kapla or lego quite a few years ago. Play what I used to do a lot myself, of course; build endlessly and actually I still do.
Reflections
Reflection is something that literally happens in the right circumstances. In a metaphorical sense, it is of course also an important property. Kind of a meta skill. The chair draws us into this scene through the overshoulder. We take a look at a (the?) Committee, the tribunal on the other side, a certain tension is felt and visible in this way.