[ watch video about the object ]

[ watch video on living near the Red Light District ]

Wiet, owner of WonderWood, a design furniture store near the red light district, gave Andrea this small wicker chair for “beautification.” Originally purchased as part of a three-piece set for a window display, it was quickly banished to the basement for its “ugly” fabric.

The little chair even after months of standing around and facing me in my studio keeps bringing my mind to idealistic visions of ship cruises - it's the idea of sitting comfortably in a padded seat while enjoying the adventurous feeling of discovering new vistas. Most of us probably won't ever book a cruise during our lifetimes, but pretty much all of us have, in order to travel, booked a seat on trains, planes, or buses. Hospitality is offered in the form of "have a seat."

I've done quite a bit of traveling in the last 2 years and have very often "booked a seat" on some kind of vehicle and several times done road trips sitting comfortably in the seat of my rental car. So somehow a stationary object such as a chair has linked itself to the transience of travel - at least in my mind. We linger in places to enjoy them, sit down, and maybe talk to strangers, fellow travelers. For moments our lives intersect. Then we continue on - book a seat or get into our seat and drive off.

As a silhouette I find the little chair quite appealing. Not sure yet where I'm going with it. Seeing all the little different sized shapes on my "postcards," I was reminded of charms on a bracelet, which in turn are also often known to be collected as souvenirs of travel. The parents of a friend of mine have been sailing around the world for many years and, in the different countries they visit, they always get her a little silver charm. Her bracelet is amazing! I've never seen such a full and heavy charm bracelet!
Chairs for Charms.... Charms for Chairs...
who knows....

Little Rattan Chair

The little chair brought to my mind idealistic visions of ship cruises–lounging in a padded seat while enjoying the adventurous feeling of comfortably discovering new vistas.

When traveling it's generally in a seat on some kind of vehicle: trains, planes, buses, car, boat...

I travel a lot, which is perhaps why in my mind such a stationary object has linked itself to the transience of travel. We find ourselves lingering in places enjoying them, sitting down, maybe talking to strangers, our fellow travelers. For those moments our lives intersect. Hospitality is even offered in the form of "Have a seat". Then we continue on–take our seat again or book another seat.

The postcards are a play on boring vacation pictures that always have the vacationers themselves documented as proof of having been there while the view itself seems relegated to second place. They are all pictures from some of my trips of the last few years plus one boring one from my neighborhood in Amsterdam.

The chair silhouette on the postcards led to playing with just using the graphic images merged and mirrored to become a wallpaper pattern - "Sitting Room".

And still, the little ugly rattan chair seemed to be saying "I want to be beautiful. I want to be famous." Now it does what most of us do–wear a mask.