CLAN consists of a group of porcelain busts. They form a present-day variant of the busts of national heroes that were produced in the Loosdrecht factory at the end of the 18th century. The figures by Bastienne Kramer have been compiled from casts of various masks that came from shops selling party objects. The busts consistently wear a different carnival mask. The face underneath is always the same but it, too, is actually a mask, that of an anonymous man, sold as ‘the criminal’
The assortment of available masks clarifies today’s (anti-) heroes: the ‘bad’ and the ‘good’ politicians ridiculed and idealised celebrities. Their standardised appearance conceals every human expression. The Loosdrecht busts also functioned primarily as a symbol and only to a lesser extent as a portrait. The presentation of this type of figures was a (modest) political ‘statement’. Kramer’s busts are life-sized and arranged at a conference table, a setting referring to the private meetings of the world’s leaders. The busts are the representatives of a clan whose identity and motives are not always clear.
Comments are closed.