Cardboard Masks - karton koppen

During the Covid-19 lock-downs in 2021 I made 8 collages from cardboard paper. Shops were closed and online orders boomed. Orders were usually delivered in cardboard boxes, which ended up in trash recycle paper bin, containers full waiting to be recycled. Some of the cardboard I recycled in another way, making portraits / masks of historical figures, in ever increasing sizes. I started with a 1.20 meter high portrait, but soon sizes became larger and larger. I had to stop making more, my home in Wageningen became too small. 

Portraits of historical figures where modified according to our current perspective on historical and current social issues. Questioning what have we learned of the needless deaths of too many people, because of Covid-19, poverty, slavery, war. 

The Golgotha Trilogy (Crucifixion of Christ)  

In The Golgotha Trilogy, the crucifixion of Christ on Golgotha ("schedelplaats") in the midst of two convicts is placed into the time of Covid-19 (face masks, a corona of brown and white crosses) symbolizing the dark and bright side of mankind, the deaths of 1000s that have been sacrificed during the pandemic: death becoming a number, a hashtag. Stills about betrayal, condemnation, and death, but above all remission and love. Almost 2000 years old, the message is still relevant today. With a nod to Jean-Michel Basquiat and the Matthäus passion, The work still needs a finishing touch: oak wooden bars as a suspension system... Two heads I took out of my home into my Lab and showed them to the public  during my Open Studio March 26, 2023, Amsterdam Noord.

01. Cardboard collage Golgotha part 3 Sacrificed (170 x 123 cm)_antoon loomans_4902

01. Carboard tri collage Golgotha part 1 Christ (180 x 118 cm)_antoon loomans_4913

01. Carboard collage Golgotha part 2 Sacrificed (145 x 129 cm)_antoon loomans_6228

OpenStudio 5_antoonloomans__4495

OpenStudio 0_antoonloomans__4458

OpenStudio 6_antoonloomans__4485

Eva Ment and JP Coen, pendant (Recall, remember this)

In The pendant of Jan Pietersz. Coen and his wife Eva Ment, both are portrayed from another, more versatile perspective on war and slavery: the millstone collar is made of slave chains, head and hair become a halo of crosses, symbolizing the 1000s of deaths by colonisation and slavery. The wealth for few had a high cost for many.

02. Cardboard duo collage Eva Ment (220 x 158 cm) and JP Coen_20210423

02. Cardboard duo collage Coen - Ment (220 x 130 cm) and Eva Ment_antoon loomans_4909

More heads

Another Christhead "Anno Domini 2021" (150 cm high) and a pendant of Napoleon Bonaparte ("L'autre Main") of and Jeanne d'Arc ("H3S3") (both 230 cm high and too big too transport) can be seen in my Lab only. Now I am working in Zamenhofstraat, Amsterdam, more heads will come, e.g. the Vitruvian (Da Vinci)