images shot by JEJ for FACADES

Talking about the war effort, here is a young Dutch artist Max Zorn taking sticky back plastic to the next level. No Blue Peter here, but an interesting use of war rationing showing his so called 'Tape Art' A thought process that requires several layers to complete the entire picture must be an pleasure although an intellectual sillouete of construction. Mr Max Zorn sounds like a bond villain but surely he is one of the bond girls that exudes beautiful vistas with creative flair moving into more film noir than cheesy one liners. The event was very well catered for, champagne bottles and lovely canapes from the great chefs at the Sanderson hotel, making use of the beautiful courtyard that complemented the gathering. I just wish I'd picked up my fedora before entering the vibrant engagment. The Art is crafted using brown packing tape on a perspex canvas. It seems like the artist starts constructing his work and doesn't finish till the end. Applying layers on a translucent space forming opaque layers detailing the perpective distance, I have seen on his videos how much detail goes into areas which are not seen that are hidden behind the upper layers. By presenting his work on on a lightbox Mr Zorn brought out the two-dimentional sepia relief and the scapled embossed details. This event was mainly 20s, 30s & 40s scenes culminating towards my favourite peice: A scene depicting Tower Bridge with a modern (today's skyline) backdrop and a 1930s movie star being filmed and photographed. Personally I have always been intrgued by artists whom combines the old with new and it reminds me of a exhibition at the Muse d'Orsay in paris where architects could fantasise about the buildings that were imposible to build back in the 1800s, I thought this because of the contrast. I have to question though, is this just 15 mins of fame, other than doing beautiful works of art, can Mr Zorn progress from here. I understand he is not a conceptual artist but in today's age people always want the next statement, if Mr Zorn is just content with the beautiful detailed work he produces then good on him although the 'modest' pricetags of the peices should keep him in a comfortable place.

images 1, 3, 5 shot by JEJ

images 2 & 4 c/o Sean Rogg