Spinoza through swirling circles
Detail from an eye-catching and dazzling 2010 optical illusion installation with sand and pigments beneath which lie pages of Baruch Spinoza's Ethics, suffused with eucalyptus oil....from artist Job Koelewijn (1962) titled 'Nursery Piece'.
The work is likened to a ritual mandala, painstakingly built up. I read that the artist tried to make a connection between the philosophies of Spinoza and Buddhism. The powerful optical effect, twinned with the scent, is an aid to absorbing Spinoza's wisdom.
But it was hard for me to concentrate on this idea - as even though I was standing still looking down on this piece, the moving optical effect made me feel I was all at sea. I could only look at it for short moments at a time.
500 x 400 cm.
Seen at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
© All rights reserved.
Spinoza through swirling circles
Detail from an eye-catching and dazzling 2010 optical illusion installation with sand and pigments beneath which lie pages of Baruch Spinoza's Ethics, suffused with eucalyptus oil....from artist Job Koelewijn (1962) titled 'Nursery Piece'.
The work is likened to a ritual mandala, painstakingly built up. I read that the artist tried to make a connection between the philosophies of Spinoza and Buddhism. The powerful optical effect, twinned with the scent, is an aid to absorbing Spinoza's wisdom.
But it was hard for me to concentrate on this idea - as even though I was standing still looking down on this piece, the moving optical effect made me feel I was all at sea. I could only look at it for short moments at a time.
500 x 400 cm.
Seen at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
© All rights reserved.