Construction_41

Construction_41 makes you think of simple figurative associations. Is it architecture? Are they the contours of a little house, but poetic freedom in concrete art is a senseless gesture. Lets just look at the facts, nothing more. Construction_41 is a light structure built from lines. A metal frame made of tubes built with geometric forms. A rectangle, a square and a triangle. The image is bright yellow and monochrome, which emphasizes the rational and industrial character of the construction. The forms have a neutrality in relation to each other. The shapes are juxtaposed on right angles facing up, flat on the surface or broken and bent. The spatial presentation makes you realize how 2 dimensional the loose elements are originally. Piece by flat piece they are placed in space. It's both a drawing and an image. Here the art of painting is entering space. Maybe this is also a characteristic of concrete art. It's developed out of painting with the understanding and practice that the flat surface can be used for imitation and mimesis. Concrete painting doesn't think this is enough and says, I myself am the original. Just look, I have structure, I have weight, I exist. Becoming independent one could say. Construction_41 is on the border of this independence, close to the constructivist art from which concrete art originates.

Jan Maarten Voskuil 2007

Guessing Game

“Students of applied art are in the fortunate position of operating unhindered by outside rules and restrictions. They can dip at will into the pool of images in the wider world, select what they want and apply it as they see fit. Too much freedom can be harmful if used with abandon, however.
For her “Install” installation at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht, Maike Mei Lan explored the territory between freedom and functionality by incorpating existing features of her studio space into the work. Using everyday items of furniture, common playground objects and humble materials like plastic, cloth, tape, wood slats and TL lamps, she set up a delicate, three-dimensional composition of lines and surfaces. The result is reminiscent of examples from the Dutch De Stijl period. Overt functionality has been avoided however. The tumbling bar is at the wrong height, and the hurdles cannot be hurdled. What remains is a space replete with references to a game based on rules the spectator can only guess at.”

Surya Andrea 2002

“Install” mixed media, publication in Frame magazine.

Aachener Nachrichten, 17 juli 2002 (Germany)

Cuijks Weekblad, april 2008 (Netherlands)