Z frame

“Z frame” is part of an ongoing series of sculptural works. Various thread materials, made of natural as well as inorganic fibers, are applied onto metal frames, for that mater equipped with fine-thread machine bolts, variable in number, length and diameter. Each frame is individual in terms of thread material, shape, dimension & the 3D pattern being applied.

The various color codes, part of them achieved through dyed thread material, others lit by various (colored) light sources within each unique location, are acting as additional visual tools, intensifying the overall visual effect of the sculpture itself.

The initial idea for Frame Sculptures combines various aspects: On one hand due to being a student at the School for Fashion and Textile Design in the disciplines weaving and knitting. On the other due to architecture and fine art photography in Manhattan, with all its geometric grids, structures and city-scapes, to be found in any of the big cities throughout the United States and beyond.

A sculpture, in its scale and shape, including the metal framing and vast number of machine bolts and strings, has strong similarities with a machine-like object. Seen through a photograph or as a close-up more so, the viewer could also translate it into either a building structure, some sort of architectural creation or a computer aided design.

Furthermore, referring to today’s fast moving, more and more digitalized, world wherein it’s more or less easily possible to compute, digitalize & animate almost any shape, form, effect or movement and so forth, often times with little time effort, Frame Sculptures plays with that aspect by creating objects, which, on first sight, could be easily mixed up with a digital animation, at least when looking at photographs of these sculptures. A second look could be necessary to realize that the Sculptures indeed are 100% handmade and analogue works.
Another factor is the absolute patience, necessary to be able to create such works. Patience — not exactly an all too common virtue in today’s world.

The ‘densified material’, especially in regards to the often times narrowly placed machine-bolts, as well as the actual thread material, play an important role, not only in terms of creating an appealing object, but in order to make it look & feel solid, almost massy from one viewpoint, yet light & weightless from another, referring to the rather thin thread material applied.

On top of that an optical illusion occurs, due to the thread material added in specific distances, directions, etc. By either moving around the sculpture, or putting a hovering sculpture into a state of movement or rotation, all the thread material layers and fine lines thereof, start to ‘shift & jump’, constantly changing the visual appearance of the sculpture, from translucent towards a more dense impression & vice versa. Every pattern results in a different visual impression.