JRun presents : monthly art feature : Interview with Ron van der Ende

Still Life, 2010 (studio)

I discovered Dutch woodworking artist Ron van der Ende on Empty Kingdom. Soon after, I contacted him about featuring his work on CARPEntryDIEM. He was remarkably open about his passion and process. Following is a portion of our conversations.

Flawless, 2007

JRun: When did scrap material begin to fuel the majority of your work?

Ron van der Ende: I started restricting myself to old wood as material for my sculptures in 1996 because it boasts a wealth of color and texture, it is readily available and inexpensive, and because it is inherently 'imperfect'. Sometimes it looks like it has been touched a million times. It feels good to make something of value from such a modest material.

Axonometric Array, 2008 (studio)

JR: "...touched a million times." I love that idea; some of your work really wants to be touched. So, how did found wood bring you to bas-relief?

RvdE: I vividly remember having my 'eureka!' moment. It suddenly dropped into my head that I could work in this material almost flat to produce a large and light sculpture. I realized instantaneously that it could be done, that it would be possible to do cars and limitless other subjects. That I would not need any detailed technical drawings but just one photograph. And that the result would be unique and spectacular and sell like hot cakes.

Fly Over, 2002 (studio)

JR: An influence from photography is not at all surprising, but it never occurred to me. The work plays with flatness and dimensionality, so maybe photography is just hiding in plain sight.

RvdE: It felt then (and it feels now) like I have stumbled upon a continent of possibilities that is mine alone to explore. And twelve years on, there is still so much opportunity to develop and grow.

Vostok, 2006

It allows me to use both painterly and sculptural solutions. Because of the 'illusion' it tends to draw people in, also people without any existing fondness for art. Also I always liked the idea of a fixed vantage point for anybody looking at a sculpture because it is a big nono with the crafts teachers. In fact it is the same with the use of colors. I'm a bit of a rebel in my own modest way!

Shipsection, 2003 (artist in studio) & Bathyscaphe Trieste, 2010

JR: Where do you collect most of your scraps?

RvdE: Most of my material I find in the streets. I find it myself or my friends call to report a dumpster/skip with interesting materials.

JR: Have your material sources changed over the years?

RvdE: It has shifted a little bit to buying materials at specialized stores because not as many material is being thrown away as a couple of years ago. People are making their own fake Piet Hein Eek furniture with it. Sometimes I buy stuff from the internet, like in 2008 I bought a lot of two hundred and fifty antique doors. That makes a full truckload!

JR: Have you developed relationships by collecting scraps from practical woodworkers or other artists?

RvdE: Not really. The scraps have to be old you know. 

JR: I know some old woodworkers here in Asheville. Maybe I will send you a few of their scraps.

RvdE: YEAH!

Plymouth Custom Suburban 1969, 2000; G.A.Z.21 Volga 1962, 2000; Capri, 2002

JR: Some commentaries have attributed a dark industrialism to your work. Is this an atmosphere that you intend to project?

RvdE: Mostly I'm dealing with sculptural qualities. I do not want aesthetics or style to be dominant in my work. And there is a conceptual side but not as 'words intended to justify the work', more as a strategy for possible associations. This becomes especially interesting when pieces are made in a deliberate combination. I used to work in themed series in the past. Series of cars for example, a set about polar exploration or space flight. But in recent years I've started trying on seemingly illogical combinations to great effect. In the end though, every single piece will have to be strong enough to survive in the world individually.

DS II (Pallas), 2008 & Phoenix: Rise ! (Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am), 2011 (studio)

Still Life & On Re-entry (Burning Log), 2010

 JR: Maybe it's too obvious, but did you play around with On Re-Entry (Burning Log) and Still Life? You know, having them speak to one another at an exhibition?

RvdE: I have not had these pieces together in a show, unfortunately. Mostly my work sells on the first exhibition they are shown in, so not much opportunity to make combinations like that. It's a shame in this case. Both these pieces have a life and death angle that would have made for a nice combination.

JR: Do you have any details or construction shots from those two endeavors?

On Re-Entry (Burning Log), 2010 (construction, details, studio)

RvdE: I did not have any of the Still Life piece, but some nice shots were made by the "Happy Famous Artists" Collective. You should ask their permission though. Tell then I sent you! They can be reached through their blog.

Still Life, 2010 (details via Happy Famous Artists Collective)

JR: You showed "Perishables" at the Armory in NYC in 2011 and, sadly, we missed it. Do you have any upcoming shows in the US?

RvdE: I'll have a solo show in the spring of 2013 with Ambach & Rice Gallery in Los Angeles.

727, 2008 & KO Valkyrie, 2010

JR: I would also like to include this video if you are happy with it:

RvdE: Sure. It's in Dutch though... I would translate but I'm terribly busy right now. At one point I tell the cameraman that I am sawing "a very tricky little piece of wood."

JR: Thank you very much for speaking with me and my community. It was a pleasure to get to know your work.

RvdE: Of course. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Best,
Ron van der Ende

Checkout 2 / Kassa 2, 2005

(June's featured artist is North Carolina's own Bob Trotman. If you have questions for Bob, please leave them here,

in the comments)

Don't Let This Happen to YOU!

Sunday I was on the way to pick up my mother's chainsaw from ACE Hardware in Weaverville.  If you don't know this already, Ed is the man! He can fix anything and he knows how to do it cheap and easy. Fast, cheap and easy should be impossible [2/3 law] but he had the repairs done in 48 hours.

Where was I? Right, on the way to pick up the chainsaw . . . and just around the corner form my driveway I notice a veritable tragedy that I have passed day after day.

Of course on weekdays I am never home during daylight hours so I have an excuse, but still I wish I had known about this sooner.  What's that? Just looks like an ordinary home, with an odd painterly aspect to the photo?  Okay, here is a closeup of that big fuzzy space taking up half of the front yard:

Don't let this happen to you!  Someone somewhere near you will certainly take away your dead wood for free before it goes to rot!  If you don't know anyone, tell me and if I can't come and get it myself, I will find someone for you!

I had a horrible imagining . . . back to the first image with the dumpster trailer in the foreground: there is a little orange loop sitting on the porch roof.  Without the aid of a super-expensive sawdust filter, you can clearly see that this is a power-cord attached to some sort of power-tool, a drill if memory serves.  I checked yesterday and the drill is still up there on the roof, after at least one night of heavy rain.  So I imagine: this homeowner cuts down the tree early in the fall of 2009, then moves up to a project on the roof, and falls to an untimely death in the back yard.  A total recluse living off the grid and having property taxes paid up years in advance, no one is the wiser as feral cats and squirrels feed off of the body until nothing remains but a pile of bones covered in crunchy leaves. Oh, and thus the tree rots in the front yard.

There are more likely explanations as to why a rotted out tree cut into two sections would be filling half of the front yard. 1) This tree was 'recently' felled, but was already rotting from the inside.  2) This is a serious procrastinator who is constantly promising to get to it later. Obviously it is a combination of the two (or my twisted story) — who leaves a drill attached to a power cord on the roof for four days in the rain?

How can you tell your tree is dead or dying?  A) It will stop producing leaves.  B) Large sections of bark may be peeling away / eaten away by tiny bugs or mold. If this happens, find someone who can take care of it for you. Like I said, if you know someone with a CHAINSAW they might do it FOR NEXT TO NOTHING, especially if the wood is nice and thus valuable to someone WHO IS A WOODWORKER WITH POWER TOOLS. And also especially if they already owe you a favor for the time you babysat their kids and also that other time they picked you up from the hospital [HINT Sloan and Kat].

UPDATE:

I don't think anyone died!
On Friday the trailer was gone.
Today the power cord is gone.
The rotten dead tree is still there
but my morbid imagination was clearly working overtime . . .

] j [