Annesas Appel has a studio in the loft of her living room in Haarlem. At one of the many tables, she works on projects with a completely unique logic. For Layered Landscape, her current exhibition at dudokdegroot, she linked the 10 colours of the Munsell colour system to the numbers 0 through 9, assigning each number its own colour. She overlapped all the numbers one by one to see what mixed colours would emerge. "It’s always a surprise that 10 fixed shapes and colours can result in so many different shapes and colour variations."
Appel recorded all variations in the self-made artist's book Layered Base, a meticulous and time-consuming process, but the result is certainly worth it. "The nice thing about artist's books is that you can show the entire collection or research in a compact whole," says Appel. The project is essentially about the mixed colours that emerge when the numbers overlap. Appel emphasised this by embroidering overlapping fragments.
Layered Landscape can be seen at gallery dudokdegroot until 6 July.
Where is your studio and what does it look like?
My studio is located in the loft of the living room in our home in Haarlem. It's not very high, but I'm not very tall myself, so it fits perfectly.
You create both artist's books and the embroidered work currently on display at dudokdegroot. These are different disciplines, so I wondered what makes a good studio for you?
Lots of tables. I have a taller table I can stand at, which is nice for working with threads on paper. Lots of light and a magnifying lamp, which is very important for poking the holes in the paper for weaving. I also have a large table where I can cut the paper and fold the books. Equipment like my computer, printer and cutting machine are also very important. And a blank wall where I can hang samples.
What does a typical day in the studio look like? Is it from 9 to 5 or are you someone who starts late and works until about 11? Do you play music or is it very quiet? And do you have visitors or prefer not to?
My day starts with the morning ritual with the kids. I bike with my daughter to school and go straight to the studio afterwards. I work until the kids come home from school. I often work again in the evening. When I'm in the middle of a thought process, it continues in my head day and night. I find it harder to let go at these times. I end up in a kind of vacuum, with blinders on and total focus on the project. That's the point where you feel the research and experiments are leading to an outcome that you haven't quite grasped yet, so you continue until you find it. Sometimes it's good to step out of that hyper-focus and take a few days off, so the solution can spontaneously present itself. When I need to concentrate on something, I prefer silence. My mind is already buzzing enough. But when I'm working with my hands, I like to listen to music or a podcast. If I have time, I like to have visitors. They get to see more of my work and the setting in which it all comes together.
Let's talk about Layered Landscape, your current exhibition, in which you link the numbers 0 to 9 to a colour, thus creating all numbers from 0 to 99 by overlapping 1 on 2, 2 on 2, 3 on 2, and so on. This creates mixed colours. How did you come up with this idea?
I was curious about what shape similarities the numbers would have when overlapped. By giving each a unique colour, a mixed colour emerges at the overlap. This makes the image of the numbers more abstract because it is not always clear which number it is due to the overlap. This is when it starts to get exciting if I can abstract what already exists in such a way that it is still there, but not immediately visible.
Can you tell us something about the colour system you created?
I often look for data that I can logically overlap. Like in my music project, where I could link the seven fundamental tones to the seven colours of the rainbow. With the 10 numbers, I also looked for a colour system of 10. I discovered a scheme in the Munsell colour system. It consists of a circle with 10 colours: yellow, light green, dark green, light blue, dark blue, indigo, magenta, violet, red and orange. Other Munsell colour schemes have more intermediate colours, but for me, the 10 and 10 provide a sort of clarity I can use. I then look for threads, which naturally do not match perfectly, so I have to adjust the shades of the colours on my computer.
It is an all-encompassing approach without any possible combinations lacking. What was your greatest discovery while exploring all those possibilities?
It’s always a surprise that with 10 fixed shapes and colours, you can arrive at so many different shapes and colour variations.
The exhibition consists of two parts: the space with the book Layered Base with prints of all number combinations and the space with cutouts on which you embroidered the colour combinations. Can you explain your interest in making artist's books and how they fit into your work?
What I love about artist's books is that you can show the entire collection or research in a compact whole. A book also requires a certain level of concentration and is more intimate. You can determine your own pace for viewing it by flipping through its pages, making it more dynamic. I almost always work with very thin Japanese paper. I often use the translucency of the paper in the books, allowing images from the next pages to lightly shine through on the page that is open. This creates a new image, one that is more hidden. This thin paper also has a certain tactility to it and is easy to turn. The nice thing about making the books is the combination of working at a computer and tactile work: every sheet goes through my hands when I cut and fold it. The downside is that it is time-consuming because the thin paper has to be printed sheet by sheet. And with that comes the worrying about what can go wrong until the very end, with gluing, cutting and binding, and then having to redo everything.
How did you come up with the idea of embroidering parts of your prints?
In the past, I also used the extra layer of thread on paper. Like with the books, I enjoy the combination of computer work and handiwork. And it strengthens the concept. In the music project, I found weaving very fitting. When playing the piano, keys are pressed and other notes are skipped, the audible and inaudible. This is also the case with weaving. The thread goes over and under, visible and invisible. Mixing sounds and mixing colours. And also thinking horizontally and vertically. When you look at sheet music, you see the chords as a vertical line, with the notes under each other, and a melody of single notes as the horizontal line. Or with a digital music program like Logic, you see the tones as horizontal blocks and the timeline, which plays the sound, moves across it as a vertical line. With the project Layered Landscape, it was really about overlapping, merging parts of the numbers. This is beautifully expressed with weaving, where the colours also mix and blend. The parts that do not overlap continue separately as horizontal or vertical lines.
Because you work in a structured way, I wondered if there is a project you have on the shelf, but that is so extensive that you do not dare to start it?
It's not so much about not daring, but more about the complexity of the project, which makes me realise that it will take longer than I initially thought, like with the music project. What I mean is that in addition to the outputs on paper with thread, I also really want to create a piece of music using my own system. I want to try to translate the logic of music theory into my own logic and colours and make a piano piece. I'm not a musician and music is very much about hearing, feeling, rhythm and melody. I'm trying to approach it in a different way through logic and calculations, which, of course, is also a big part of music. I don’t know whether it will work and how it will sound, but I still want to try. That is really the challenge. I try to understand music theory and translate it into a logic I can understand and convert into colour, image and sound.
What are you working on right now?
I’ve just finished the Layered Base and Landscape project and am now going to sink my teeth into the music/weaving project again.