Echo

The ‘Echo’ installation is derived of the work of Rachel Ruysch. Ruysch was a 17th century Dutch still-life painter f rom the Northern Netherlands. She specialized in flowers, inventing her own style, and achieving international fame in her lifetime. At the height of her career her work was even sold for a higher amount than Rembrandt’s. Being a (successful) woman in the art world in that time was a rarity. And it still is. This similarity and the fascination with flowers stimulated van Voorbergen to translate Rachel’s work in an abstract installation. Assisted by the Rijksmuseum Van Voorbergen was able to transform a scan of one of Ruysch’s paintings to a digital algorithm that would transform the 2D painting to a 3D design that could be implemented in a computer-controlled CNC milling machine which carved the texture from wood. With color pigments from the original painting Van Voorbergen communicates with Ruysch’s work while translating them to the minimalistic, monochrome, and circular shaped objects. The intensity of the color initiated by the depth of the carvings. Scattered pieces stimulate the viewer to take a step back and capture the whole of the installation in its abstract form with a subtle reference of a bouquet. The structured wooden panels are submerged in a monochrome pigmented epoxy. Van Voorbergen wanted to give the submergence of these machine-made landscapes a sense of eternalization.

A ramification of this installation is the availability of the centre piece of the installation (120cm in diameter) which will be available in all the colors used in the installation.