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One of the few artworks that really made an impact on me at Kistefos museum.
Silent Studio by Mark Manders
The diagonally cut "Dry Clay Head" exudes not only deep tranquility but also a sense of tension.
The "dried-out clay" evokes the idea of stillness, while the taut rope (attached to the back of the head) refers to tension. Is the rope pulling the gigantic head down? How?
These sensations all play out in the viewer's mind. Clay, rope, and the wooden plank are made of painted bronze.
Manders easily spends 10 years on a sculpture. The work process can stall and be put on hold for years. If he suspects there's more to an idea, he doesn't want to force its maturation.
To evoke that steady work process in his enormous studio, the layout of Museum Voorlinden has been significantly altered. Pieces of wood are propped up against makeshift partitions, and here and there, debris lies scattered on the floor. A clay sculpture is covered in plastic, as if the material can't dry too quickly, or it will crack.
But don't be fooled. The unfinished clay sculpture, with its unruly skin, has already been cast in bronze (a highly specialized task) and then carefully painted as if the sculpture were still made of clay.
"What you get is not what you see," to paraphrase a well-known computer wisdom. The urge to check that with your finger is almost irresistible. Despite the enormous size, modern art museums all over the world make space to show and collect them.
Mark Manders entices the viewer to wander around in his artist's mind, but in doing so, the visitor becomes lost in his own thoughts.
Two white, rudimentary animal forms in a deep black cabinet could, in my opinion, have been excavated in Pompeii. Together, eternally on the run.
The animals are made in clay, then cast in bronze. The result is hand-painted to provide the illusion of clay again...
At the brink of adulthood, Mark Manders faced the choice of what to become in life. He hesitated between art, writing and psychiatry. He found a way to combine all three.
As a start, he decided to delve into writing, but not with words.
Say 'head', 'trunk', 'pregnant, saddle' — it doesn't matter which word — and it instantly conjures up an image. So why not just write "visually" right away?
"What you get is not what you see," to paraphrase a well-known computer wisdom. This also applies to Manders' handmade furniture. When such functional objects lose their industrial aloofness and are also reduced in size by twelve percent, they become "images of things."
You sense a certain discrepancy, but it isn't easy to pinpoint. By taking the photo from above, the physical and mental twist becomes more visible. The newspaper pillow (with all the words from the English language) is another doorway to your mind. In short, "Mindstudy" is an apt title for Manders' conception of art.
Wandering through a deceptive replica of his workshop, where gray predominates, you are maneuvered into a dream state. Think of nocturnal expeditions through no man's land where you cannot find the exit. In the bright spaces of Voorlinden, this sensation isn't frightening, but what seems perfectly normal becomes increasingly strange.
It seems like old news. Why is it on display in a classy museum? And what do those crazy headlines mean? Is Manders turning the newspaper - our daily bread in words - into a folly?
Manders can savor any word like a universe in itself. But he also creates 'fake newspapers' that supposedly contain all English words. All of them... really? When questioned, the claim is based on a university source.
But how complete can a newspaper be? News has an extremely short lifespan and language doesn't stand still either. In short, "all the words" can never be true.
In a nonsensical way, Manders makes it clear that all language is also, and perhaps even primarily, a "stylized form." Don't just read the words in the newspaper, but look at them too - critically...
"My Bed" evokes the mentality of an obsessive collector. Here, compulsive collecting serves as a substitute for a partner. Such a hoarder no longer communicates with living beings, but with objects.
Mark Manders considered studying psychology before he became an artist. He did, however, marry a psychotherapist specializing in grief counseling. The clay child refers to unresolved grief.
Here I was inspired by a sculpture called Unfired Clay Torso, created by Mark Manders.
Happy Sliders Sunday!
A journey into the imagination.
In Mindstudy Dutch artist Mark Manders invites you to follow him through the spaces of his thinking.
At Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar NL.
More Mark Manders at my Blog:
A journey into the imagination.
In Mindstudy Dutch artist Mark Manders invites you to follow him through the spaces of his thinking.
At Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar NL.
More Mark Manders at my Blog:
Museum Voorlinden is an art museum in Wassenaar in the Netherlands. It was founded and is privately owned by Joop van Caldenborgh.
13/01/2016; The explanation that Mark Manders gave to name his work (sorry, Dutch only) still is pretty far fetched if you ask me. Let alone why two people would stand on a table while being naked...
But before Gerard, Nohemi, and I even knew about the name of this statue, Gerard and I decided this work could do with a finishing touch. Which we were willing to give with our Pixelsticks, Gerard taking care of the red lines in the background, me in charge of the blue lines in the foreground.
Rokin 11/09/2020 16h26
Urban backpacking...
More AmsterdamPeople (album with candid and non-candid shot of people in Amsterdam)
The sculpture in the background is the Rokin Fontein made by Mark Manders (Volkel, 23 mei 1968) and installed August 2017.