lose one's balance

The work shows a process, which in its final logical, outcome means the physical disappearance of the object. The same occurs in the object  Enlargement-Reduction (1976), collection Van Abbe Museum Eindhoven. *

The object, which was originally a circle, had perfect balance without top or bottom. The moment a hole was cut to hang the object, the effect of gravity became visible.

In search of the middle and a new centre of gravity, many lines were drawn. Crossing each other, they run over the perimeter of the surface and into space.

These lines cluster at the top and are further apart at the bottom. Together they create a series of intersections on the object.

Intersections become points of balance.

Points of balance become points of gravity that fall at random on the floor. A visible pattern of holes remain while the lines are unseen.

Intersections become corners.

Drawing straight lines connects the intersections with the edges of the circle. This creates an asymmetric polygon, while the circle remains perceptible.

The object swings, sensitive to air movement, free of the wall, on ONE of the balance points.>

The dark blue - almost black - colour isolates the object from its surroundings and creates the impression of weight.

The reflection on the wall of the soft yellow rear side (visible also through the holes) intensifies the impression of a floating object.

Maria van Elk, 2014 

Stedelijk Museum Schiedam – Cool!
Exposition
November 3, 2012 – Februari 24, 2013

Acquisitions and highlights from the Serial, systematic, fundamental and radical painting exhibition. Ronald de Bloeme, Bob Bonies, Ad Dekkers, Maria van Elk, Daan van Golden, Ab van Hanegem, Henri Jacobs, Jurriaan Molenaar, JCJ Vanderheyden, Jan Maarten Voskuil.

In the past year, the collection has been supplemented by donations from artists Maria van Elk and Jan Maarten Voskuil, among others. The Museum is most grateful to the artists for their exceptional gifts. Both works have been included in the Cool! exhibition, which also displays work by younger artists such as Jan Maarten Voskuil and Ronald de Bloeme, besides that of more established artists such as Bob Bonies, Ad Dekkers and Daan van Golden. Five paintings by Ronald de Bloeme have been added to the collection in the past year, two of which were donated by the artist.
Lose’s One’s Balance by Maria van Elk was produced in 1986. It is a double-sided mural relief that has been painted blue on the front, while the back is yellow. The colours represent night and day. The relief is polygonal and hangs on a nail that protrudes through one of the holes. The correct balance for hanging was found by drilling large holes in the panel and the traces of this process lie on the floor under the object. Van Elk explains: It is all about the material disappearance or dissolution that is set in motion in the creation of an object. The consistent quest for a new point of equilibrium causes a relocation of material that ultimately falls to the ground, so that the surface dissolves further and ultimately vanishes.’ It is a splendid contradiction: in the pursuit of perfection (hanging up the relief in equilibrium), the object is further depleted.

Colin Huizing, 2012
Quotation: Bulletin Stedelijk Museum Schiedam, October-December 2012