0109
17-04-1998
KOOSNAAM ‘SNEEUWWITJE’
Allart Lakke
Artist
Collection: Kleur & Ruimte
Pet name ‘Snow White’ is a knotted glass case with the dimensions 6 x 42 x 29.5 cm, stored inside an air-tight box measuring 7.5 x 44 x 32 cm, which opens on all sides. The work is essentially ‘unfinished’.
Snow White has eaten the poisoned apple given to her by her jealous stepmother, the witch. When I declare to my nieces that Snow White is dead and will never wake up, they cry: ‘No, the Prince will come and kiss her!’ Faith is deep and the comatose state is in no way an impediment to the happy outcome.
White can be broken down into all other colours. When glass breaks, the pieces bring good luck. ‘Transparent white’ is a puzzling term in the work of the philosopher Wittgenstein, of which I have never read a single word. I have engraved a little figure on the milk white glass top. It is a hunchbacked flute-player, who the Hopis call Kokopilau and who embodies fertility with his flute and hump. A misshapen prince like a scratch in the glass.
Ostensibly, Snow White herself is invisibly laid out. Corpse and coffin are of the same transparent material, somewhat ethereal. It is an unusable and thus misshapen case of knotted glass. A suitable bride for the aforementioned prince.
-AL
