Sometimes I think my life, especially that part of my life I have spent living in the Netherlands is akin to being stuck in a bubble. Or sitting in a greenhouse floating through an endless void. Of course, both situations have their advantages.
The curator found this photocopy in his coat pocket after a night out in Blackburn, Lancashire. Mid 1990s. Given its unknown provenance this slip of paper must be a contender for the most forlorn wish never granted.
Photocopy of a fairly perfunctory pencil sketch of a photograph of a woman sitting on a designer couch. Image taken from a glossy magazine. Imagine if this image was the sole remnant of how we lived in the 2000’s. The silent, unseeing mystery pointing towards the void, akin to looking at a painted sarcophagus.
Photograph of a sketch in byro and felt tip and pencil. The subjects of the drawing are diverse. One is from an advert promoting one of the many devices of the “Nokia Years” (aka early internet, pre-smartphone era) where modern people needed a whole array of digital aides to go about their business. The other is from a photocopy of a famous photograph of three girls crossing a road in Amsterdam in 1970. The (almost brazen) sense of nothingness of this image whispers something to me about the Netherlands. I’m not sure what.
