RAM-8 Groep

Statement

Eight plastician artists who have appreciated each others' work through local exhibits for more than 10 years were invited last year to join one of a series of city-sponsored events connected to the 'Kunst in Overijse' exhibition that brings local artists together every two years. The cultural center 'Den Blank' provided the concept: a series of triplets of long rectangular specially machined panels and paint, to become a staged painting exhibition consisting of triangular prisms enveloping the trunks of the trees on the commercial Stationsstraat (Station Street), under the name 'Groep 8'. This success led the last two members of a small 15 years-old art group called RAM who were taking part in the same event to invite the other six in joining them to form a continuing association renamed 'RAM-8 Groep'. One of the new members, a participant in eight Bridges conferences, brought these artists to a first collaborative work here on a new geometric 3D structure featuring a labyrinth.

Artworks

Eight square panels linked on 2 adjacent edges form a wavy accordion-like assembly glued on both sides of the upper edges of a square-based pyramid with acute golden triangles, the 4 upper folds forming a virtual inverted pyramid with obtuse golden triangles: these pyramids are deformations of those of the regular octahedron cut in 2 and opposed at their summit vertices. Artists topologically interpret in their personal style a template randomly attributed that is an 8th of a 3-circuit 'micro-Chartres' labyrinth. Both the unicursal Ariadne thread and the maze-like 'wall system' are symbolically 'walkable'. 3 'poles' preventing to use its 'transverse' walls, the maze is also continuously 'drivable' in a closed loop circuit as bridges/tunnels/mirrors physically or symbolically 'join' pairs of the 8 dead-ends, one per panel. Artists include their own math content, and use as their own main color 1 of 8: 6 from the wheel of colors + b. & w., also filling in panel under sides.