ABOUT / A Mosaic of Possibilities

   

You’ve probably seen them before: the blue­and­white signs that hang from the facades of monuments to indicate the historical value of the building. The blue­and­white shield is an internationally recognized symbol that was imple­ mented by Unesco for the protection of unique cultural heritage. The hopeful thought goes that, even in times of war, these buildings will be respected by both combatant sides. For his contribution to the festival Terug naar het Begin (Back to the Beginning) in 2018, Sjimmie brought this blue­and­white symbol to the ancient church of the ‘Groninger’ village Krewerd, and used it as his starting point for a very special artwork (Semio, 2018). The diamond­shaped quartering of the two colours inspired him to make a large floor­mosaic. Even though it cost him quite some effort to convince the Cultural Heritage Agency to loan him the required plaques, eventually he was able to place a large mosaic which covered the flagstones of the church’s choir area. Resembling a blue­and­white tapestry, it drew the visitor’s full attention. The pattern of diamonds, squares and triangles had the ingenious complexity of Arabian tile­ work, but was at the same time very naturally present in this medieval church, where its form was mirrored in the brick masonry of the choir’s scaffolding.

The comparison with mosaics or masonry is not wholly without reason when considering Sjimmie Veenhuis’ work: many of his works are characterized by a complex pattern of visual elements, the colours and shapes of which are arranged in a surprising fashion. In this new arrangement, all parts are inte­ grated in a dynamic whole of rhythmic repetition or subtle displacement. It is this game of shapes and images to which the works of Veenhuis owe their refined essence. To this end, Sjimmie makes use of a plethora of different materials and objects. Just as the monumental plaque served as the starting point for his work at the church, other objects can take this role as well: old book covers, tape cassettes, traffic signs, caution tape… With the simple shapes and patterns of such materials, Sjimmie creates new compositions and instal­ lations. The new work is created through his rearrangement of shapes and colours; by sorting them, combining them, or repeating them. Through the process of rearrangement, the individual object is deprived of its function and recognizability and is fully absorbed in the totality of the new image, just like the individual stitches in a cross stitch, the separate fragments in a stained glass window, or the pixels in a digital image.

Although these compositions do not appear to show the hand of the artist at first glance, they are yet fully determined by the choices he’s made and the method he employs. In their composition, size and presentation, all works have been carefully considered and shaped by the artist. As a viewer, one does not necessarily experience his ‘making hand’ as much as his ‘seeing eye’. There is a certain attentiveness which underlies the complex simplicity of his richly coloured compositions and patterns. Perhaps this attentiveness has become strange to us due to the high ‘turnover rate’ of all the visual information from our daily surroundings. We read the colours of traffic lights, traffic signs, advertisements, media images, and consumer goods as information that instructs us to act without thought or hesitation. Images and colours act as signals which are immediately internalized as the exclamation of their message: Stop here! Do this! Watch out! Buy This! They are carriers of meaning which inform us, and which try to guide our behaviour.

Signs and messages are also ‘mediators’: when the light is green, I trust I can cross the road, in good faith that the approaching car reads the red light as a sign to stop. In this manner, the visual language communicates to different parties. Back in the day, busy intersections would be occupied by a traffic officer with a double­sided red­ and­green sign: with just a flick of his hand, he would signal who had to stop and who would drive, or cycle. One can stop to wonder what would have happened if this sign had carried a different message. In short; we read that which we recognize. We recognize the image that is familiar to us, and will value that over the image which has not yet been stored in our memory. A Dutch landscape of Piet Mondriaan is often more appreciated by most people than an abstract composition in red, blue, and yellow.

Artists are the ones who flip the signs of our expectations in a manner which is equally exciting as it is surprising, and who offer us new experiences in doing so. Sjimmie Veenhuis gives the everydayness of traffic signs a remarkable twist by including them in a playful configuration in which colours and shapes are separate parts of a surprising pattern (Vertex, 2018). Where the message disappears, the image is reinforced. Despite this, his work can not only be interpreted as formalistic research into shape, colour and composition. The installations intertwine themselves with the space in which they are included, and the rhythm of the pattern resonates within that space. (Excerpts and Codex, 2018). 

The work activates the space and the viewer, just like the gestures of the traffic officer did. Or, in the way that patterns of the so­called ‘dazzle paintings’ were once meant to camouflage war ships in the first world war. The interactive aspect of Sjimmie Veenhuis’ work may be less immediately recognized, but nevertheless plays a significant role. As said before, patterns give a certain direction to our manner of looking; they force themselves upon our retinas and seem to repeat beyond the image itself. The interactivity is highly defining for the various light­works which Sjimmie has made for the public space (Action>Reaction, 2017 and Action>Reaction 2.0, 2018). On a wall filled with light switches, people can create their own images by switching light bulbs either on or off, designing an image of light in the process. Indeed, the artist relinquishes control through this machination, and merely offers the terms and conditions within which the viewer creates the image themselves. The seemingly simplistic and joyful aesthetic works invitingly, and before long many passersby are creating their own words, signs and images on the big wall filled with lights. The interactive light pieces are eminently illustrative of the playful nature of Sjimmie’s work. Enjoyment and surprise are significant characteristics of his visual combinations and of his compositions that emerge by playing around with shapes and colours. Another good example of this can be found in the bookcases filled with books and tape cassettes which have been arranged by colour, and which have been deprived of their original functionality (Codex, 2018). Who wouldn’t want such a wall of books, even though not a single one can be found back in it? Or a filing cabinet, filled with VHS­tapes that have become obsolete, arranged in a colourful pattern which is reminiscent of Mondriaan? The joyful reusing of materials and objects makes for surprising effects and rich visual experiences. Despite this fact, it is not necessarily the creative recycling of old things which holds most importance for the artist, but rather the visual wealth of the commonplace, and the surprises which lay hidden in the rearrangement of images that have become so familiar that we hardly notice them anymore. It is a subtle difference between recycling of an object, and finding a new application for it.

As such, it is almost unavoidable to consider the work of Sjimmie Veenhuis in an art historical context. The investigation into the visual qualities of commonplace materials has, as we know, a long­standing tradition. When mentioning this tradition, I do not necessarily refer to the ‘readymades’ of Dada and Pop Art, but rather to the serial works from movements such as the Nouveau Réalisme, Minimal Art, and Conceptual Art. The archetypical use of material of the Frenchman Jean­Pierre Raynaud ­ with his tile works, traffic signs, paint cans and warning signs ­ can very well be used as a relevant frame of reference for the work of Sjimmie Veenhuis. In much the same way, the obsessive stripe patterns of Daniel Buren are also difficult to ignore. The same can be said about the austere, stylized and serial works of such American artists as Donald Judd and Walter De Maria. One could go on to list a whole number of other similarities or parallels that are observable within the rich history (and actuality) of the visual arts. In this regard, it’s fortuitous that Sjimmie Veenhuis was given the opportunity to fill the so­called Van Abbe- museum Vitrine (Van Abbemuseum Display Case) with his personal choice from the museum’s collection, during an earlier presentation of his work at Piet Hein Eek. Besides work from ZERO artists such as Henk Peeters and Jan Schoonhoven, Sjimmie selected the geometrical prints of Robert Mangold and Sol Lewitt, the colour compositions of Richard Paul Lohse, and the swirling ‘bow ties’ of René Daniëls, amongst others.

But we can find remarkable filliations even outside of the scope of visual arts, in architecture and design, in graphic design or fashion. Precisely these fields incorporate structure, pattern, repetition and colour combination as their main ingredients. And sometimes, some remarkably unremarkable visual comple­ mentations arise in the public space and our common environment. Earlier on, I referred to the antiquated sign of the traffic officer, but who notices the fact that, besides having their individual numbers, all the trams in Amsterdam are given their own colour code? This can be seen as a coloured square, right next to the line number of the tram. And like little abstract pieces of art, these colour codes have been driving in circles through the city for more than a century. And it is because of Sjimmie’s work that I suddenly recognized it. Just like his use of caution tape to make new compositions, offering us a quirky designation within the space. It is as if he demarcates the familiar in order to give room to the unfamiliar; an invitation to travel through the imagination and to experience the transformation from object to sensation, from surface to space, and from signal to poetry. Sjimmie Veenhuis grants us a look behind the familiarized appearances of things, and surprises us with a mosaic of possibilities.

Leo Delfgaauw, 2020

↑     ←