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Crocheted lace doilies hanging in front of a window, displayed on a side table, or neatly draped across the back of a sofa. Ruben Raven (1995) saw these decorative items during his travels through Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they are still just as popular as ever. Although he knew them from his grandmother’s home, in the Netherlands they seemed to have all but disappeared. Having earlier made work based on commonplace items like stickers, DVD’s, and ventilators, this everyday concept inspired the multimedia artist to create a new series. By experimenting with crocheting techniques and using a variety of different approaches, he gave these now old-fashioned, handcrafted items new meaning. Among other things, he enlarged small, crocheted doilies to serve as the point of departure for a painting, scanned crochet work to make digital prints, and transformed it into ceramics.
Raven is interested in the alienation that occurs with each transformation. For instance how the fragile textile literally becomes breakable in ceramics, or how its physical quality completely disappears into the background when incorporated in a painting. At the same time he experiences working around a single, specific theme – crocheting – as liberating. In fact, he is just like the crochet technique itself: although it may have its limitations, inside these limitations are endless possibilities. Raven hopes that while looking at the work “Sketch” (2025), spectators will follow the same route he travelled while making it. Looking, experiencing, and exploring: an installation resembling a voyage of discovery, with the artist unearthing and stretching unexpected possibilities and associations.
Text: Esther Darley
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)