Beke László (szerk.): Instruktiv + Inter + Konkret. Művészet Malom Szentendre, 21. November - 26. Januar 2015 (Sankt Augustin, 2014)
10. Roland de Jong Orlando
Module-Based Sculptural Constructions At the end of my studies at the Academy of Art in Amsterdam (1990) I started focusing on the most elementary way of making a constructive kind of sculpture by simply cutting beams and reassembling the parts. When cutting a beam, the two obtained parts can only be reassembled neatly (other than in the original position) by turning one of them a full 180°, which makes the possibilities to create something 3-dimensional rather limited. I wanted a module which could be cut out of a square beam, but which also would give me the possibility to easily create three-dimensional forms. The module I was looking for turned out not to be one, but two: a form and its mirror image. In an empirical way I started making different combinations with these two new modules. The repetition of only one type of module resulted in having a ‘twisted’ beam. By alternating both modules (one-by-one, two-by-two or three-by-three) a kind of circular form was created. With these two modules at my disposal, and all their possible combinations, I made a series of works over the next years, playing with the factors rhythm and harmony. After a period of time I needed a new impulse, I wanted my sculptures to have a more irregular inner ‘progression’, so I started experimenting by changing the cutting angle. Besides the line and circle another geometric form was introduced into my work by doing so: the spiral. This made my sculptures become more ‘natural’, in a way that the element ‘growth’ was introduced. The fact that these sculptures were constructed in such a logic, systematic way facilitated it to turn a small wooden model into a steel sculpture of monumental size, in collaboration with local construction factories. Just to mention a few: two large double spiral forms were placed near the entrance of a residential area, an 11 meters high spiral was put near a municipal building and a big steel sculpture was placed on the playground of a primary school, so kids could climb on it. For many years I have done research on the use of combinations of these modules. Even though I liked trying other sculptural approaches too, I kept going back to these modules, discovering new possibilities every time. Maybe it’s also because of the fact that, as much as I really enjoy applying certain rules in the process of creation, and as much as my sculptures are often the outcome of that purely systematical approach, they are not the mere execution of an idea I had. They are the result of an artistic process, where one thing leads to another. They are the result of a play with forms. I currently still research and use these modules for ongoing projects, trying to find new applications for them every time. The combining and rearranging of these modules according to more or less systematic approach often result in sculptures that look simple, but are complex in structure. And yet I don’t want my sculptures to be the ‘proof of some mathematical rule or numeric system. After all, the first experience you have when you look at a work of Art is of aesthetic nature. Grasping the order, proportions or other rules that an artist has applied to make the work is an intellectual experience which follows afterwards, possibly. This intellectual experience makes the aesthetic appreciation of the Artwork to become more intense. 123
