In his practice Ken Verhoeven (°1991) is interested in daily, common objects, which in some cases have lost their function in contemporary society. In his 2020 exhibition Die Badewannen von Kaldewei at LLS Paleis, he created paintings inspired by Inca ponchos and stencils of top views of bathtubs, based on the (formal) resemblance of both objects. The idea for the current exhibition was conceived by Verhoeven’s fascination with hand fans. The foldable structure of the earliest Japanese made fans, dating from the 6th Century, were inspired by the wings of bats. This opening and closing of images already existed in this previous exhibition, where images were drawn into the wings of bats. Fans became fashionable in Europe from the 16th century onwards, during the Renaissance and Baroque period. Banished by the electric fan and air conditioning, hand fans are no more than historical objects, found today in ethnographic museums or as carnivalesque kitsch.
One specific 19th century paper hand fan provided the backbone of this show. In an Italian catalogue, sorted under Frivolous and Galant Topics, Verhoeven found a fan depicting a theatrical sketch: “Two maids, alone in the house, hide an amorous visitor in the laundry-basket: the owners suspect that something is amiss because of a forgotten hat and search furiously”. Can Verhoeven enlighten us and solve this mystery? What happens in the basket, who does the hat belong to? Can forensic DNA testing shed light on this case?
Playing with folding and unfolding, illuminating images and concealing them, Verhoeven creates his own mysterious world. While creating his hand fans, he discovers that the same form, be it upside down, is used to produce lamp shades. No wonder, both traditional crafts took place at the same manufactories. Just as DNA replicates itself, he made two copies of each image. Are the inverted lamp shades copies or molds of the hand fans? Is there an original? As hand fans diminish direct heat, lamp shades reduce direct light. It’s a cover-up story, two maids trying to hide their lover. Or is there more to it?