11 april 2023, Wouter van den Eijkel
'14 hairstyles in a day' | How Koos Buster became Employee of the Month for 12 consecutive years
Solo is the first solo exhibition by ceramic artist Koos Buster at Galerie Vriend van Bavink, where he put together the acclaimed group exhibition Ministry of Ceramic Affairs last year. For Solo, he made 144 Employee of the Month signs, each with his own face, sculptures of Japanese temple dogs, a soft drink machine and two ATMs – all made of clay and all with cheerful handwriting with curvy lines.
Koos Buster has made a name for himself in recent years with the series Decorative plates of almost everything I don't like, with subjects ranging from referees who disadvantaged Ajax [football club] to cruise ships and oil rigs. Everyday objects were added, from cigarette butts and security cameras to bottles of cleaner – with their nice bright colours – and a monument for the departing Amsterdam native: a life-size Canta vehicle.
For Solo, Koos Buster created a soda machine like the ones found at indoor swimming pools and fitness centres. As well as the two ATMs, a phenomenon that will soon be disappearing from the streets. By making such unnoticed or undervalued objects out of clay, he gives them a completely different meaning and value.
Now that the ‘Rutte 4’ cabinet is stringing together one crisis after the other, the question arises as to how the Minister of Ceramic Affairs is doing. "Pretty good. I’m on recess now,” says the artist over the phone from the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. “I am very pleased with the show. I worked really hard on it for three months and am enjoying a well-deserved break.”
Koos Buster, Flappentrekker, 2023, Galerie Vriend van Bavink
For the group show you put together last year, you proclaimed yourself the Minister of Ceramic Affairs, the Ambassador of the Medium. This time around, you are the Employee of the Month for 12 years in a row. Why do you like to incorporate yourself into your work?
“I like to work based on my own story and simply trust that it will work out. When it comes to my art, I do everything myself. But the Employee of the Month sign gives the impression that you work for a large company. But if you do everything on your own, you're automatically top of the class. At the same time, it's a form of self-appreciation and a way to make fun of yourself because you're the one who works the hardest.”
Taking on different roles is also what you do in Employee of the Month. A different Koos Buster adorns the KB corporate clothing each time: long hair, short hair, clean cut, spiky hair, beard, ring beard, moustache, no beard. You could have opted for a single picture of yourself. Why did you do this instead?
“The work is also about the role you assume when choosing certain clothes or a look. That determines the way you see yourself and how others see you. That fascinates me and I like to toy with that idea. On the day the pictures were taken, I had 14 different haircuts. That's a strange experience. I had my hair cut without any mirrors. I had to go to a mirror in another room to find out what I looked like each time.”
Last November, you were on residency in Japan for three weeks to gain inspiration. How did you end up there?
“Ranti Tjan, who was the director of the EKCW at the time, asked me if I was interested in Asia and if I thought it might be fun to make doorbells for all Dutch embassies in Asia. Japan and China are the birthplace of ceramics, so I definitely wanted to go there. For practical reasons, a lack of time and the fact that China was closed to tourists due to Covid measures, I decided to go to Japan only.”
Three weeks isn't very long either. What did you have planned for your time in Japan?
“I mainly wanted to do research and meet a lot of people. And did just that. I enjoyed a very nice business trip. Afra Eisma was doing a residency in Japan and showed me the ropes. Together, we visited many Shinto temples, where you encounter Komainu, sculptures of dogs. I noticed that the dogs all looked different and were all made by different people, sometimes as many as three artists.”
Koos Buster, Tantalus matras, 2023, Galerie Vriend van Bavink
Once back in the Netherlands, you did a residency at the European Ceramic Work Center (EKWC) in Oisterwijk. Was this influenced by the time you spent in Japan?
“At the EKWC, you have the opportunity to make your own work. I commuted back and forth between Amsterdam and Oisterwijk and worked really long days. But I got a lot out of it. I now have a clay list of things I still want to make. Because of the drying times, you work from large to small. I started with the ATMs and the Monument to My Clay. Also the Japanese Shrine Dogs, which are really different from what I normally make. Initially, the plan was to trade them with Afra for one of her works, but they turned out so well I decided to keep them for myself. I also ended up with extra time, so I made the series of Oe & Ah Shrine Dogs. In that series, I added pigment to the clay for the first time. This involves taking a different approach than when adding glaze afterwards. I want to experiment more with this.”
