Page 7: 2007/2010 – Motor Memory and A Shallow Wade, Seattle
Motor Memory was the first exhibition in the United States. It was staged at OkOk Gallery (later Ambach & Rice) in Ballard, Seattle, an industrial area in transition. The show consisted of four bas-reliefs and two murals.
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727 [2008]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, 310 x 140 x 16cm
(West Collection, Oaks, Pennsylvania, United States)
The bas relief was based on a postcard showing a test flight of the Boeing 727.
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Schooner (S.S. Roosevelt) [2007]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, 215 x 155 x 12cm
(West Collection, Pennsylvania, United States)
S.S. Roosevelt was built especially for Robert E. Peary’s expeditions to the North Pole. Read more about this expedion and other polar expeditions on page 6
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DS 1 (Snoek) [2008]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, 114 x 56 x 10cm
(private collection, Seattle Washington, United States)
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DS II (Pallas) [2008]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, 100 x 61 x 10cm
(collection of Robert Wise, London, United Kingdom)
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Diorama [2008]
Computer collage design for a 4.2 x 1.8 m mural made with black paint and C-print on yellow paper. It was part of the Motor Memory show at OkOk Gallery, Seattle in 2008 and the ‘Reality and its Double’ show at Ron Mandos gallery in Amsterdam in 2010.
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s.t. (Shop Floor) [2008]
Mural. 3 x 2.5 m. A map of the Heijplaat studio floor. Part of the Motor Memory show at OkOk Gallery, Seattle in 2008
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A Shallow Wade
The A Shallow Wade exhibition looked at American symbols related to power, religion and money, (in)sustainabilty and fame. It opened 28-08-2010 at Ambach & Rice gallery in Ballard, Seattle, WA. (Breaker belongs to this group but it was not part of the exhibition.)
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Limo 1 [2009]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, 184 x 115 x 12cm
(private collection Bassano Del Grappa, Italy)
[expand title=”Learn about this Cadillac Fleetwood, state car to Ronald Reagan in the early eighties: “]
Limo 1
The 1984 Cadillac Fleetwood Seventy Five was the Presidential Limousine used by President Ronald Reagan.
“After decades of Lincolns, Cadillac was finally given the chance to produce a limousine for the secret service in the early 1980s during the Reagan administration. Appearing in 1984 was a pair of 1983 Fleetwoods built by Hess & Eisenhardt. Since the coachbuilder started with production Fleetwood limousines, the cars were stretched only 17 inches and their roofs raised three inches. Power for both came from Cadillacs own massive 500 cubic-inch V8. Though awkward in appearance, the Fleetwoods provided excellent visibility for the president. Large greenhouses were made possible by the development of 2 3/8ths inch think bulletproof glass and powerful air conditioning systems that kept the cabin cool.” (source)
Image top: The interior of Ronald Reagans presidential limousine. (source)
Slides: altered archival photo’s used alongside the bas-reliefs in the Shallow Wade exhibition at Ambach & Rice in Seattle, WA, USA
Image bottom: Cropping from a film poster for ‘Hong Kong’ in 1951 showing the hand of Ronald Reagan pointing a gun in defense of a child. The image was applied to the back of Limo 1.
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NASCAR Charger [2009]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, three parts, total dim. 305 x 96 x 10cm.
(collection of Bram en Eva Fioole, Rotterdam, Netherlands)
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Breaker [2009]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, 165 x 152 x 18cm
(collection of Ieke Frankenmolen, Rotterdam, Netherlands)
[expand title=”More about Coal Breakers and the Breaker Boys of Pennsylvania: “]
Breaker Boy
A breaker boy was a coal-mining worker, especially common in Pennsylvania, whose job was to separate impurities from coal by hand in a coal breaker. Most breaker boys were between 8 and 12 years old. The use of breaker boys began around 1866. For 10 hours a day, six days a week, breaker boys would sit on wooden seats, perched over the chutes and conveyor belts, picking slate and other impurities from the coal. A coal breaker breaks coal into pieces and sorts them into categories of roughly uniform size. Its second function is to remove impurities like rock, slate, sulphur, ash, clay, or soil. This became necessary when coal started being used in factories and iron works. The work of the breaker boys was hazardous. They had to work without gloves to better handle the slick coal, and their fingers were often cut by the sharp slate. Breaker boys could easily lose fingers, amputated by the rapidly moving conveyor belts, or even feet, hands, arms, or legs as they moved among the machinery and were caught under the conveyor belts or in gears. Many were crushed to death, and the supervisors would retrieve their bodies from the machinery only at the end of the working day. Because of the dust, breaker boys sometimes wore lamps on their heads to see, and asthma and black lung disease were common. When the coal was washed to remove impurities it would create sulfuric acid which burned the hands of the breaker boys. By the age of twelve the boys were considered old enough to start work in the mine itself. By then most of them were already hunchbacked like old men. Although the first laws to protect the breaker boys were enacted in 1885, the coal mines continued to employ them. Their numbers finally began to decline in the 1910s due to improvements in technology, stricter child labor laws, and the enactment of compulsory education.
Breaker boys were known for their fierce independence and their rejection of adult authority. They often formed and joined trade unions, and precipitated a number of important strikes in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania. Among these were the strike which culminated in the Lattimer Massacre (19 unarmed strikers were shot dead by a posse of the Luzerne County sheriff) and the Coal Strike of 1902.
(source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaker_boy)
Coal Breaker
Coal breakers were used primarily in the United States, especially at the anthracite coal mines of Pennsylvania. Their main function was to break coal into pieces and grade the lumps into six commercial sizes. Until about 1900, nearly all anthracite coal breakers were labor-intensive. Impurities were removed by hand, usually by young boys. Coal breakers were generally located as close to the anthracite mine entrance as possible, so as to minimize the distance the coal had to travel before processing; but this had its hazards. In the UK, the government enacted a law in the mid-19th century requiring that coal breakers be built away from mine entrances. But in the US, neither the federal government nor the states adopted regulation of coal breakers until after many lives had been lost. Two disasters prompted the adoption of legislation. The first occurred on September 6, 1869, when a small explosion at the Avondale mine in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, blew flames up the mine shaft. The wooden breaker built over the mine opening caught fire and collapsed, trapping and killing 110 workers in the mine below. No action was taken at that time. But in 1871, a fire destroyed the wooden breaker built over a mine opening in West Pittston, Pennsylvania, trapping and killing 24 miners. The state of Pennsylvania finally adopted a law in 1885 requiring that coal breakers be situated at least 200 feet from the opening of any mine.
(source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_breaker)
Top Image: Breaker boys, Woodward Coal Mines, Kingston, PA [ca 1900] photographer unknown. Copyright Detroit Publishing Co. Source: Library of Congress.
Bottom: Coal Breaker web-images.
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Taylor / Burton [2009]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, 165 x 95 x 11cm
(private collection Bethesda, Maryland, United States)
[expand title=”More about the Taylor-Burton diamond:”]
Taylor/Burton
The rough diamond, weighing 241 carats (48.2 g), was found in 1966 in the Premier Mine in South Africa and was cut by Harry Winston to 69.42 carats in a pear shape. It was bought in 1969 by Richard Burton and Liz Taylor for over a million dollars, creating great publicity. Burton and Taylor were top movie stars in those days and arguably the most famous couple in the world. Sale of the diamond conferred naming rights and they accordingly named it the Taylor- Burton Diamond. After their divorce in 1974, Taylor auctioned the diamond for $5 million. Its current owner is Robert Mouawad, a Lebanese diamond dealer and owner of many famous gems.
(source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor-Burton_Diamond)
Image top: Photograph of a diamond mine laborer placing explosive charges. Copyright Uniepers. Image taken from the book ‘Vier Eeuwen Diamant’ (1986). The image was applied to the back of the Taylor/Burton relief. Image right: Hand of Harry Winston filled with precious stones
‘In this photo, Harry Winston holds some of his famous gems in the palm of his hand. The 125.35 carat emerald-cut Jonker diamond is center. Just under the Jonker is the 94.80 carat pear shaped Star of the East diamond. The 45.52 carat blue Hope diamond rests between his index and middle nger. The 337.10 carat Sapphire of Catherine the Great is next to his thumb, and the 70.21 carat Idol’s Eye diamond is just above the Jonker. A matched pair of pear shaped diamonds and a larger ruby are also shown.’ In his day Harry Winston (1896 -1978) was possibly the most famous jeweler in the world. His name is immortalized in Marily Monroe’s 1953 film version of the song Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend: ‘Talk to me, Harry Winston, tell me all about it!’
(source: harrywinston.com; wikipedia.org/wiki/ Harry_Winston)
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On Re-Entry (Burning Log) [2010]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, 262 x 87 x 12 cm
(collection of Leslie and Dale Chihuly, Seattle, Washington, United States)
[expand title=”See the full back image ofOn Re-Entry . Sewer outlet on the river Ganga: “]
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Shotgun Shack Row [2010]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, 236 x 84 x 14 cm
(private collection, Old Lyme, Connecticut, United States)
A ‘shotgun shack’ is a narrow home, usually no more than 3.5 m wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other, and doors at each end of the house, a design which assists ventilation. Shotgun houses were popular in the Southern United States from the end of the American Civil War until the late 1920s. Its origins were probably Haitian and African, and the style is most commonly associated with New Orleans; but they can be found as far away as Chicago, Key West and California. As a sign of its New Orleans heritage, the house is usually raised two to three feet off the ground.
(source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_house)
[expand title=”Follow the Read More link to see the image applied to the rear of Shotgun Shack Row :”]
“Children’s bicycles and Mardi Gras beads remained from a oated away house at Deslonde Street in the Lower Ninth Ward in fog at morning. New Orleans, Louisiana, January 30, 2006”
(photo by Alexey Sergeev: asergeev.com)
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Prairie Church [2010]
Bas-relief in salvaged wood, 57 x 42 x 10 cm
(collection of Charles Kitchings, Los Angeles, California, United States)
Web image applied to the back of Prairie Church :
“Inside the Abandoned St. Olaf Church in Williams County North Dakota”
(source: jpipsqueak.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/256 )
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