JHF Ossewaarde Possibly 1953 - 1958

Curator: Well, here we have a small, but rather intriguing piece—a drawing entitled "JHF Ossewaarde," dating perhaps from the mid-1950s. It's an ink drawing on paper, currently residing here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It strikes me as meditative. Like a geometric mandala distilled down to its purest form. Tiny but assertive. It's as though I've stumbled on a secret code hidden inside an old book. Curator: I love that "secret code" notion! Considering its medium, simple ink on paper, there is something particularly potent about its message. One is immediately drawn to contemplate the material conditions in which the artist may have conceived such abstract thoughts, so delicate and repetitive with limited resources. Editor: Exactly! I wonder, who was Ossewaarde and what labor practices formed the means for this material’s production and its consumption? This piece is calling me to look into social constructs as well as the artistic. Curator: The beauty of this piece lies within the precision of it's making, yet leaving room for speculation within the interpretation of such geometrical designs. Editor: It teeters wonderfully between micro and macro. Look how simple the strokes are, probably nothing more than what one would find on any ordinary desktop during those years, yet somehow creating such striking harmony that radiates into the ether. What stories this ink could tell. Curator: Precisely! I get a sense that this piece holds echoes of much larger, grander movements but somehow feels intimate. Editor: It whispers, rather than shouts, its presence. Which somehow makes me want to know more. Almost like the piece knows its own secrets and, well, it certainly makes me want to discover them.