Lily and Mila Lanfermeijer are interested in the intimate act of exchange that is an inherent part in the use of applied techniques. Next to their individual practices they have been collaborating on several projects since 2014. Their practices overlap in dealing with questions regarding the relationship between the usable and the autonomous object and ideas circling around (shared) authorship.
For Punt WG they’ve created an installation consisting of several textile works, pieces of furniture and sculptural works that draw inspiration from the concept of modern folklore. Different processes of transmission, through material, verbal or customary form were the point of departure.
In “The Craftsmen” Richard Sennet writes that when slamming a nail with a hammer, the hammer becomes an extension of the craftsman’s mind, his thoughts between the hammer itself and the nail it will make contact with. Similarly, when collaborating and in the process of communicating what was previously in the makers mind, a space is created that is not merely one individuals thinking but somewhere in-between two minds.
For this exhibition a new series of ‘layered paintings’ was created through the use of kalamkari, a precise drawing technique using a bamboo stick that is practiced in India, often solely by men. While researching this craft that blurs the boundaries between pattern making and painting Mila became interested in the use of perspective and the expression of fabric within the tradition of painting and it’s connection to wealth and skill in different geological, historical or religious contexts. Hand drawn copies of traditional fabrics are combined with drawings based on images from hobby books, vintage fashion magazines and commercial advertisement. A lot of the imagery circles around personal adornment, which has historically been one of the main outlets of female artistic expression. Symbols are abstracted into patterns to create new compositions. Lily’s braided pieces that draw inspiration from various fields, ranging from fashion, to religion, bakery and rope knotting, are combined into clay ornaments.
A table can have many functions depending on context, its form and the environment it exists in.
It can be a border or a shared object depending on the relationship with its users. In that sense the table can work as an arena for things to take place. By using precise measurements and dimensions Lily has created tabletops that can be connected into different shapes and adjusted to suit several situations or functions. The tops act as sculptures in the room, waiting to be activated through their use. The shapes and uses vary, from allowing one person to sit across from two at a distance, to a conference shape with a central focus point, to a lower form where the user must kneel down. During the exhibition the table tops and table legs will change formation; in this way shifting the perspective on the tables through the activation or deactivation of the tabletops.
The slight and subtle changes in form find their origin in pottery, and refer to the transformation of one shape into the next. The medative variations in the shape of the table legs are closely related
to the making of vases on the pottery wheel. Through the use of a chisel, pieces of wood have been removed to create similar forms, only now they are not built up from the wet clay but excavated out of the soft pine.
This exhibition was generously supported by het Amsterdamse Fonds voor de Kunst.