0192
25-11-2012
EEN MODERNE BAVELAAR
Jan Joost Peskens
Other, landscape architect

Cornelis Bavelaar (Leiden 1777-1859) made small boxes with representations of ships, landscapes and domestic events carved from wood or bone. These boxes were called ‘bavelaartjes’. Bavelaars have been in my family since 1841.

The principles for a Vedute (a box of 7x32x44 cm) were for me an obvious reason to make a Bavelaar, but it had to be a contemporary Bavelaar. It is a house containing barely visible objects. The house refers to a concealing burka rather than to the all revealing Facebook. Hidden inside are some images of things that gave my life colour, such as the Roman Catholic Church, railways, sailing, nature and Africa. They are like the Bavelaar scenes, carved from pear wood and in perspective so that they fit into the shallow space. What is visible is what is normally out of sight: a man urinating against a rear wall and that which is under the ground.
-JJP