Fresh from India

shipment2013

After two month on sea my new work from India has arrived!
It contains new additions for the ‘Via Energetica’ series. Beside works on canvas also ceramics this time.

Click here for the ‘Via Energetica’ 2013

Two months earlier:
ShippingWork

Today:
DouaneZending   TransportKisten

 

“Fire in the hole”

TerracottaBW-11

For the creation of my art installation ‘Partitions’ I worked together with two assistants specialized in traditional Indian terra-cotta. To control the workflow and ensure the best quality we built a field oven near my studio. It took several months, 750 kg of freshly kneaded and carefully modeled clay, a 1000 kg wood, fire & smoke to create about 75 terra-cotta objects. After firing they were ready for the last steps to completion. Using different kinds of materials, like fresh mud, shellac, iron & marble powder, natural indigo and acrylics I applied ‘a second skin’.

Great experience and lot’s of fun!

See the finished ‘Partitions’ here

TerracottaBW-15      TerracottaBW-13

TerracottaBW-6      TerracottaBW-4

TerracottaBW-5     TerracottaBW-3

TerracottaBW-12       TerracottaBW-14

Nailed it!

Nail

End 2012 the Dubrovnik Prijeko Palace asked me to create a small art piece using a nail collected from the building during the restoration . After approval I produced my design, a ceramic sculpture, in an edition of 200. It’s available at the palace packed together with a nice booklet in a luxury gift box.

Zwitserland-1

from the booklet:

From age-old earth to modern art

The materials and artwork of Mark Verdoes

How a great idea becomes real

One of the discoveries during the renovation of the building was a large number of ancient, handmade nails in the oak boards and beams; true masterpieces of handcraft. The nails inspired the Dutch artist Mark Verdoes (The Hague, 1960) in such a way that he took them to his studio in India – where people still use 1000 year old techniques in daily life – and used them as the basis for small art pieces. The keywords for his inspiration were nail, hole, room, space, building and key lock.

The commitment of the craftsman

The art pieces are made from Indian clay using traditional craftsmen techniques. The clay is carefully sieved, mixed with water and kneaded into model. After drying the pieces are baked in a traditional wood fired field oven made from earth. The result is sanded and treated with natural pigments. Gold pigments surround the nail and provide a warm and rich appearance. The nails start their second life; their value remains.Mark Verdoes developed many original techniques to create his art. Much of his new work is based on mud, reflecting his strong preference for natural materials. Sometimes old objects find a next life in Verdoes’ art.

Download the booklet: Dubrovnik.pdf

Making the ‘Fossilized Blues’

wals

Sometimes you find materials that give you an instant idea. In this case I found two old horns that people in India use during weddings for playing very loud music.

tweehoorns

I wanted to use them in a painting but they needed to be flat, so how to realize that? At first I was thinking of using an elephant, but maybe it is not very elegant to ask such a noble creature to sit on music!? Finally as you can sea in the picture above people repairing the road gave me a hand, old fashioned tonnage did the job!