Hanneke Rijks

Statement

My artwork combines my skills as a furniture maker and my background as a mathematician. The material I work with is wood and veneer. With this I create impossible figures, optical illusions and suggested depth. I like it when people don't understand it right away and have to think about what they see. I create the image by using different types of veneer. Everything starts with a rough drawing on paper. Most of my designs are not in perspective but isometric. Then I make almost everything by hand, hardly using any machines and no computer. I get my inspiration from my direct environment: repeating patterns, structures, architecture and modern art.

Artworks

In this artwork the center consists of three 'paths', but on the outer edge it suddenly becomes six. By playing with different points of view, it has become an impossible figure. It is an isometric drawing, so many lines are parallel and the angles are 120°. The outline suggests a hexagon.

The mahogany frame was once part of a room divider. I removed the fabric covering and replaced it with panels of veneer on plywood. Not every cubicle has the same vanishing point, which distorts the perspective. This makes the outer boxes appear larger than the middle ones, although they are all the same size.