printed ceramic tiles on wood, photocopies, varnish
49 x 69 cm
Big Sky II
1994
As techno-tiles evolved, the cloud image emerged as the symbol representing our communal world, as clouds without borders express that which belongs to all of us, our common human framework and responsibility. The combined image of cloud and technoglyphs became the building block with which to mass-produce a sky image, as both an expression of the current state of interconnectedness of the world and as a warning of environmental abuse. And to ask the question; can we rely on the structures that caused the problem to fix the problem?
image 1:
Big Sky I
1994
printed ceramic tiles, wood, excelsior, photocopies, varnish
28 x 34 cm
image 2-3:
Big Sky III
1994
printed ceramic tiles, wood, excelsior, photocopies, varnish
89 x 206 cm
exhibition venue:
Abtei Brauweiler, Cologne, 1994
Big Sky I
1994
Tempted to frame a fired sky-tile in some presentation format, I chose excelsior as the most appropriate material for a passepartout. Softwood shavings are traditionally used for packing fragile goods, they are certainly more ecological than styrofoam and/or plastic peanuts, and the chaotic visual pattern they create harmonised perfectly with the texture of the technoglyphs. As if that was not enough to make a point, photocopies of technoglyphs were laminated onto a wooden picture frame, and then varnished; a bit over the top, but we were living in over-the-top times then, even moreso today. Big Sky III eventually received the same presentation format, but when I had attached the tiles to the plywood background for Big Sky II, the energy coming out of the grain pattern of the plywood was already enough, hence the excelsior was waived.