Alle Jong

”A short introduction about the polised works in linnen”

I like exploring the complex relationship between people and images, for the interplay between making and seeing, appearance and perception, intention and response, between the putative autonomy of the object and the context of seeing. These series of polished works are about the endless change and dissapearance of things, and about the revival of the image as memory. I polish images in pure empty linnen, there is no paint but only the linnen of which the history is dating back at least 4.000 years. A polished work in linnen is closer to nature than a painting, this painting which attempts to be a world of it’s own, a kind of Trompe-l’oeil. A polished work is dependent on the forces of light and therefore more connected to the world outside of Plato’s cave, if a cloud is blocking the sun the polished image could disapear, this forces our perception to find meaning in the transcendental or linnen itself. These are not screaming images but ghost images who force us to take the time to concentrate and look into the unknown. I think our view of the world is always vague, wrapped in remembered bits of memory, a polished work is a memory bearer and shows the vague remains of an extinct present. It is about us in front of an artwork seeing the falsification of our minds projected into that artwork. This is the beauty of fading away in thoughts full of fantasy, human life is all about creating, planting and spreading our memory’s around us in which we hope to find inner rest.

Rafaël ”portrait of a young man” (studio view) 72x56cm polished in linnen 2014 by Alle Jong

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 ”Memory of a wedding” Unknown photograph of a wedding – Annotation at back of the photograph says: Op trouwdag van Ab en Janny 16 feb 1961 (translation: At wedding day of Ab and Janny Februari 16, 1961) ”This dated unknown wedding photograph was the source for the included artwork’ in this package’

”Memory of a wedding” Op trouwdag van Ab en Janny 16 feb 1961  – Alle Jong 110x71cm polished in linnen 2014 

Photograph Acropolis Athens, with the Medieval Frankish tower still standing

The Frankish Tower was a medieval tower built on the Acropolis of Athens by the Franks as part of the palace of the Dukes of Athens. It was demolished by the Greek authorities in 1874. I see this as an act of Iconoclasm, in the polished Acropolis in linnen the whole site wil disapear and revive repeatly as a vague memory.

(Studio view) ”Directing History, (Iconoclasm) the Frankish Tower at the Acropolis in Athene Greece 116x68cm
geschuurd op linnen 2014 door Alle Jong”

I explore the relationship between people and their aggression towards the image. We call this Iconoclasm and also the destruction of the Frankish tower can be seen as a form of Iconoclasm. In the book Iconoclasts and their motives by David Freedberg there is a passage in which Mary Richardson gave her motivation for the slashing of Velasquez’s Rokeby Venus in March, 1914.

( political motivation) I have tried to destroy the picture of the most beautiful character in modern history as a protest against the government for destroying Mrs Pankhurst, who is the most beautiful character in modern history. – ( moral or offending, rather abusive motivation) I didn’t like the way men visitors to the gallery gaped at it all day long.

(Studio view) ”Iconoclasm” Self portrait by Rembrandt, attacked by Hans-Joachim Bohlmann in 1977 Kassel 97×79 cm
polished in linnen september 2014
Lost