Framing the Archives
It took a while — for lots of reasons — but I seem to have found a home in which to hang the Archives. The initial idea was to create a kind of front-loading cabinet with a door and glass, since the scrolls in the archives tended to need a bit of re-arranging sometimes. Getting access to an artwork with moving parts in a typical frame from the back-side can be problematic.
In keeping with the general idea of using reclaimed materials, I started to pick up wood I found on the street. The more worn, the more irregularities, the better. I still regret not dragging that blue palette I saw on the streets of Amsterdam outside Central Station onto the train and back to Amersfoort.
While collaborating on making the frames with Jan Landsheer, the original deep-set cabinets with door and glass became shallower, lighter boxes entirely open on the front — a baklijst essentially. I had asked Jan not to work too beautifully. He seemed to solve that by working quickly. He surprised me by making certain irregularities and eccentricities of the wood pieces even more visible. Jan also helped with sourcing some terrific scraps.
Jan Landsheer
Meubelmakerij Muurhuizen
Amersfoort, Netherlands
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