Stroopbordes 1917 - 1938

This photograph is of an industrial construction, anonymous, and it's called "Stroopbordes," which I gather is Dutch. It's hard for me to ignore how this piece makes me think about the process of making art. I imagine the unseen artist, maybe in a hard hat, meticulously constructing each section of this platform. This reminds me of the way a painter builds a canvas, layer by layer, decision by decision. The repetitive structures evoke a painter's iterative process— trial, error, adjustment. I am thinking about Sol LeWitt, who used simple geometric forms, and how he was always interested in what the process of making art can teach us. The choice of materials—steel, bolts—creates a visual language that speaks to both functionality and aesthetic consideration. It makes you wonder how different approaches to the material can shape what we end up making and how we experience it.