Function Creep

Plaster, charcoal, steel, burlap, wood, fabric, record player, 2015

A set of big, monumental plaster structures (named Big Boy A, Big Boy B and Big Boy C). They stand 5 to 6 meters tall, dwarfing every and all other sculptures in the room. They determine the space and, like a facade, they have a clear front- and backside. The front shows a drawing of charcoal lines and wrinkles of the wet paper they were cast from. The drawings are a result of a transfer technique where wet plaster is thrown on charcoal drawings. The paper is removed after the plaster has hardened, soaking up the drawing in its pores. A sort of transfer of the paper’s skin. Standing in the midst of three tall structures there is an arrangement of plaster sculptures (Great Hands I - IX). Some are fine, but imperfect, copies of previously made sculptures, others had more of a haphazard way of coming to form. What they share is a sense of formulated doubt and the fact that everything shown is in a second state of being, a copy. In the corner stands a record player playing a sweet melancholic song. The song is an 8 minute rendition of “Sleep Walk” by Santo and Johnny. The record is a fine, playable, copy made of plaster. While it plays the soundtrack for the exhibition over and over, the needle will slowly carve it’s way through the plaster and through the music.

De Ateliers

Stadhouderskade 86

Amsterdam, NL

Photos by Gert Jan van Rooij, 2015

Tim Mathijsen

studio

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