Mr. Maarten Kolk

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The Herbaria which we make are a direct consequence of the publication of Bolted/Doorgeschoten, part of Maarten's graduation project in 2006.

In this book I highlighted the unexpected hidden splendour and the extraordinary colours and shapes of bolted vegetables. I simply let myself be guided by the daily goings-on in my vegetable garden. I observed what happened, and wrote down my findings, registered bolting vegetables with a designer’s eye. 

During the creation of the book, my vegetable garden has been a studyfield, but I gave gradually come to see the vegetables themselves as material. I therefore decided to harvest them after all, to immortalize my garden and show it to the world at large. By pressing and drying and thereby conserving the plants, the proces of growth is in a way extended. The herbaria include many layers of fabric, with lying on top the dried plants. Clamped between glass and wood it creates a graphic image that leans against a wall. All the Herbaria pieces together become a grizzled and abstract translation of my garden.
 

Skills