Stedelijk Museum at S Hertogenbosch

I decided to head out for the day to view work on my own. I seem to enjoy the freedom and time to reflect more. I followed the programme recommendation and took the train one hour south. The town was very clean and middle class. The gallery well staffed and presented and the place was busy. I had missed the Jewelry show which was advertised so I had to make do with the design show. A collection of Dutch design studios were showing research based works. I saw ceramics tiles made from cooled lava, a study of soil samples from a neighbourhood made into ceramics, a textile project developed from a 'pigeon prison' used in the War to capture and hold the birds. Presumably this was to send decoy massages back. The range of approaches was great and all of them shared a sense of deep research and process. Style was irrelevant  The idea was foregrounded. None of the shows were of 'finished products' and I found that inspiring. On the top floor was a bit of a design archive with lots of ceramics from Anish Kapoor, Cocteau, Jeff Koons, Ettore Sotsass, a new name for me in Kenneth Price pictured at the bottom. His cups sell for crazy prices now but actually there were a lot of new names for me today. There was Jewelry from Many Ray (pictured inverted cross has a butt formed on it), a few big jewellery names like Schaparelli also. One sculptor in particular, Guido Geelan I liked a lot. A large sculpture on the bottom floor, the work consisted of casted forms nested within each other and only visible through holes bored in the surface of each. (see red clay box forms below) The cuboids are cast from some kind of machined surface and the random angles of the bored holes allow the eye into the interior but along oblique vectors. This suggested to me a playful and ironic humour in that its is both supported by yet perhaps critical of the conventions of rational and efficient design. Within the box is nested something like a tyre for and within that something else, almost impossible to really see in his whole form. This disorienting subversion of the classical dichotomy of interior/exterior or whole/parts made be think of Helon Brittons work.