The Creation of Composition No. 2
The making of a pentagonal artwork with matches in 2022
As noted elsewhere on this website, 1994 was a crucial year regarding my contact with the artist Frank Lodeizen (FL): frequent meetings in person, the purchase of many FL artworks, and in the summer Jaap Goedemoed (JG) and FL embarked on a holiday together in Montescudaio, Tuscany. A comprehensive account will be written about this event in due course. JG would often take art lovers to FL's studio on Herengracht Amsterdam, which often resulted in purchases of FL's artworks. On one of these occasions in 1994, Irene Eichholz, married to Tom Swaab, one of JG's pub mates (between 1982 and 1996 JG and Tom Swaab would regularly visit café Welling), bought a piece of art (25 x 35 cm) by FL from 1993, composed of burnt matches, and fitted on cardboard in such a way that it produced a rhythmic pattern. From 1994 to 1996, Irene, Tom and JG would frequently visit artists' open houses, galleries and Ger Lambregts' "ethnographic basement" on Prinsengracht Amsterdam, which was close to Runstraat where many African 'runners' brought their cases full of ethnographic artefacts. It would be the final stop of their city-run from Paris to Brussels and Amsterdam, and if posh ethnographic retail outlets, which they had previously visited, had spurned the content of their cases.
1993 Frank Lodeizen – 25 x 35 cm
Irene was a very special person, she was a Germanist with a wonderful flair for art and languages. She worked in Gallery d'Eendt in Amsterdam for many years and she translated poems by the Austrian experimental poet Ernst Jandl. Irene wrote an essay about it (in Wenen, De Sfinx – 1996, Oog in 't Zeil, Stedenreeks 4, publisher Bas Lubberhuizen).
Irene died on 21 August 2020 and in a very special way, I received FL's artwork from her estate through Tom Swaab, who very generously offered it to me in March 2022, almost 28 years after I had witnessed the purchase.
I'm afraid this was a rather lengthy pre-amble before arriving at 'matches', the building materials at the core of this essay. Jaap must have had this particular FL piece of art on his mind when in March 2022 a new pentagonal piece of art announced itself. After two artworks based on porcupine quills, there was a stronger urge to produce more 'structured', less playful artwork and Jaap was less inclined to fill pentagonal boxes compared to his previous two pieces of art. Although decisions and choices are never entirely rational or clear cut, we may assume that 'FL's matches' contributed to the consistent use of matches to fill pentagonal boxes. In this case, they were 'fireplace matches', a slightly larger version of ordinary matches which suited the intended larger 100 x 100 cm format of the artwork. It would help the intended artwork fit into the series of three-dimensional line artworks, which were previously described as pieces of art in complete contrast to Jasper Johns' linear works.
The Construction Process
On 18 March 2022, the first little dividing walls (1 cm thick) of balsa wood were fitted on the pentagonal pattern. These little partitions were at their highest, i.e. 5 cm, in the centre of the work, gradually decreasing towards the periphery. The next images show the creation of the pentagonal box design, which took more than 40 days of work.
The first pentagonal walls on 18th of March
More wall progress on 9th of April
The full surface of the canvas covered with the pentagonal walls on 29th of April. In the centre the walls possess the maximum height of 5 cm.
The work in progress on 5th of May 2022, with all units and pentagonal walls painted in titanium white.
The following stage was probably even more labour-intensive. The fireplace matches were used to make little 'duckboards'. The principle was simple: small supports of balsa wood in each corner and then slats made from the smaller matches placed along the partitioning walls to support broader fireplace matches.
The first unit filled with a platform or pallet made from larger sized matches on 7th of May 2022.
Following stage with for each unit a different direction of the matches.
On 23rd of July all units were filled with the platforms made of matches.
There are several variables: the height of the corners (which determine the height and the gradient of the little duckboards) and the direction of the fireplace matches. The aim was to alternate the direction of the fireplace matches in a particular box compared to the surrounding boxes. The duckboards in the boxes were made to size, then removed and painted white and subsequently replaced.
As said before, making the little wooden duckboards was the most labour-intensive part of the creation of this piece of art. It was not until 23 July that there were duckboards in all the boxes. There is no reason why this stage could not be considered a completed piece of art such as an intriguing follow-up of Jan van Schoonhoven's (senior) white artworks. He was a well-known Dutch artist and a member of the Zero Group who most likely had not heard of pentagonal tessellations. However, in keeping with the two porcupine quill artworks, artist JG wanted to add something extra, some colour and some additional design.
Adding Color and Final Design
Images of the work so far were printed in grey tones followed by colour and pattern experiments on paper to determine what would be the best continuation. My idea was to 1) emphasise the regularity of the pattern with some solidly coloured lines, and 2) to add some complexity to the whole by drawing thin lines within the boxes in very light colours. An example of this kind of colour and line experiment on paper is shown below.
Study on paper using a print in grey tones. In the study are used 4 bright colours on the pentagonal grid, and lines and 8 soft colours within the units. 28th of July 2022.
The four bright colours on 4-cm slats placed on top of the pentagonal grid eventually became blue – yellow – orange – grey blue. The bright colour was achieved by covering the slats in gum arabic and then pouring some pure pigment over. The bright colour remains dull which is appropriate to the work.
2nd of August – The first brightly coloured 4 cm slats placed on the pentagonal grid.
3rd of August – All brightly coloured 4 cm slats placed on the work in progress.
After having finished the coloured short slats they were laid aside and a start was made with the colouring in of the boxes. Small lines were drawn from the corners in such a way that the lines were as perpendicular as possible to the direction of the matchsticks. Eight light foundation colours were selected. This also adds to the complexity because it creates competition between the actual shadows (caused by the little duckboards deep down in the relevant boxes) and the light colours which also appear like a kind of shadow. After colouring in the pentagonal boxes, the brightly coloured 4-cm slats were fixed to the pentagonal grid which completed the artwork. All that was left was to create an unobtrusive box frame.
The final work was finished on 18th of August 2022. Again 5 months were needed for making this complex art work. On first sight the composition looks very regular, however, looking in more detail some irregularities can be seen.
Sideview of the final work showing the relief and the here and there deeper lying boxes.
A Spin-off Artwork
Remnants of the larger matches used for the construction of the little duckboards in the boxes were also used for an artwork that differed slightly to Frank Lodeizen's 'burnt matches' piece mentioned at the beginning. Frank Lodeizen used many matches for his hand-rolled cigarettes to which he might also add some cannabis. JG owns an FL piece of art in which these 'rollies' are the main topic: the shag curls were often referred to in the vernacular as 'the widow's pubes' because in advertisements strong tobacco was referred to as the 'widow's shag' (and medium tobacco was advertised as the 'widow's daughter's shag').
Artwork from 1992 by Frank Lodeizen depicting the tobacco curls from the (hand-rolling) tobacco shag Van Nelle. The text The Rising Hope is present on each blue bag of Van Nelle tobacco. In the artwork it can also be read buikhaar van de Weduwe; this is slang in Dutch for buikhaar = pubic hair = tobacco curls, and van de Weduwe = from the Widow: the heavy tobacco is from 'the widow Van Nelle' (and the medium heavy tobacco is from the daughter of the Widow), i.e., these are known advertisement slogans typical for Dutch shag culture.
A 50 grams bag of Van Nelle heavy tobacco from 'the widow' Van Nelle including the wording The Rising Hope.
JG's piece of art consisting of matches was given an atypical tessellation. The match structure with the red heads was so dense that there was some space left within the given framework. Consequently, some more matches were struck to provide black-headed matches. This red and black balance gave JG's artwork a very distinctive character and made it very different to FL's work with its burnt matches. Obviously, this smaller artwork was an unintentional spin-off of JG's larger pentagonal work.
Final JG spin-off artwork 30 x 40 cm of the remnants of the two sizes of matches used of the 100 x 100 cm artwork, i.e., the remnants with the red heads. The burned remnants with the black heads were additionally made for this artwork.
The larger pentagonal work with very light colours was quite a new step for JG and when it was finished an innovative idea emerged for a new transparent large 3D pentagonal artwork. It is now in preparation. One thing is certain: JG currently is the sole artist to make such kind of artwork! It is great to be able to work in your own niche without being afraid that other artists will appropriate your ideas. Besides, the works are too labour-intensive to be copied just like that.
Translated from Dutch by Rosemary Mitchell-Schuitevoerder.