Learn More - Close Parity

Maarten Baas’ Close Parity collection comprises several large bronze pieces, which are a monumental ode to childlike illogical shapes.

According to Baas, nothing is more fun than drawing the impossible, especially as in a 2-dimensional world he can operate without constraints such as gravity.

The artist used spontaneous sketches to inform the final shape of the Close Parity artworks; top-heavy, asymmetrical, cabinets that do not tip over but instead seem to effortlessly defy gravity. The apparently uncomplicated pieces of furniture are in reality a kind of balancing act of different extremes, executed with humorous simplicity and characteristic flatness.

First shown during the 2016 Dutch Design Week, Close Parity is one of several collections that Baas presented as part of his first major solo exhibition, Hide & Seek, at the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands in 2017.

Throughout his career, Maarten Baas has often worked with deliberate naivety and a focus on playful experimentation: “As an adult you develop a lot of qualities. But hardly anyone can make a nice drawing. Yet, every child makes the best drawings time and time again. Their purity and originality is often better than any respected artist. That’s why I’ve always been interested in artworks of Dadaism and Art-Brut.”

At its core, the five unusually shaped Close Parity cabinets are executed in brass plates and kept in balance by counterweights that offer a strange new version of reality. Some cabinets stand on just two legs and custom-made, hidden hinges and drawer systems provide the structural stability needed to function while maintaining its illusory balance.

photograph: Erwin Olaf