David Van Eyssen

Archive

Archive 1988-1992

CONCEPTUAL WORK, INSTALLATIONS, AND PAINTING

DO IT YOURSELF

Do It Yourself 001: Cardboard-covered spiral-bound bookwork with an oval black label reading DO IT YOURSELF, on a black background.
Do It Yourself 002: Open cardboard box of the Do It Yourself kit holding masking tape, work glove, paint can, brush, a label and a framed panel on a plinth.
Do It Yourself 003: Spread of the Do It Yourself bookwork: typed instructions on cardboard facing four black-and-white photos of the white-square kit being used.
Do It Yourself 004: Spread of the bookwork with two black-and-white photographs of domestic interiors, one showing a pale painted square beside a door.
Do It Yourself 005: Bookwork spread headed Installation of the White Square, with a typed list of figures facing a photo of a person hanging a pale square.
Do It Yourself 006: Black-and-white photograph of patchwork fields beneath a cloudy sky, seen from a grassy hillside, mounted on a cream page.

INSTALLATIONS

Memory Work 001, hand-cut book: Bookwork page with typed caption for Memory Work, a 1992 Los Angeles commission, and a small sepia photograph of a face.
Memory Work 002, hand-cut book: Bookwork spread of sepia photographs of wine glasses with a face reflected in one, beside a column of typed text.
Memory Work 003, hand-cut book: Bookwork spread of a glass shelf with a wine glass and flowering cactus in a white pot, and a close photo of the cactus.
Memory Work, hand-cut book: Bookwork spread of sepia photographs of wine glasses with hands covering a face seen through the water, and a blank cut-out window.
Memory Work, installation view: Photograph of the Memory Work installation: two glass shelves with wine glasses, a cactus and typed text, above a black oval print.
Installation for a private collector, Los Angeles 001, hand-cut book: Spiral-bound documentation book spread with black-and-white photos of a wall socket, a blank cut-out window and shelves seen through a doorway.
Installation for a private collector, Los Angeles 002, hand-cut book: Spiral-bound spread of black-and-white shelf studies with slate pieces and metal brackets, alongside two blank cut-out windows.
Installation for a private collector, Los Angeles 003, hand-cut book: Documentation spread: a small photo facing a purple-toned print of wall shelves holding slate slabs and stereo components.
Installation for a private collector, Los Angeles, installation view: Black-and-white photograph of wall-mounted slate slabs on metal shelves with small stereo components, from the Slate Library installation.
Conversation Piece 001, hand-cut book: Spread with typed text on two 1992 commissions, including Conversation Piece, beside a circular photo and a wine glass with a circuit board.
Conversation Piece 002, hand-cut book: Spread with a typed Conversation Piece statement, a photo of an arched dining room with a chandelier and circular crops of shelves.
Conversation Piece 003, hand-cut book: Spread of warm-toned photographs of wine glasses on glass shelves, some holding family portrait photographs under water.
Conversation Piece 004, hand-cut book: Hand turning a page with circular and oval cut-outs in a spiral book, revealing photographs of wine glasses and glass shelves.
Conversation Piece 005, hand-cut book: Spread of amber photographs: a glass shelf support, a circular crop of wine glasses, a typed circle and an arched room with a shelf of glasses.
Conversation Piece 006, hand-cut book: Spread with two portrait photos in wine glasses, a circular crop of a camera on a shelf, and a row of glasses above a camera.
Conversation Piece 007, hand-cut book: Spread with two Polaroids of a leather case and a vintage camera, a photo of a glass shelf with camera, and a pink circular crop.
Conversation Piece 008, hand-cut book: Spread of photographs: a circular crop of a shelf bracket, an arched window with glasses on a rail, and a row of glasses on glass.
Conversation Piece, installation view: Pink-toned photograph of a long glass shelf in an arched window with a row of wine glasses, a vintage camera, case and small speakers.
Installations, London 001, hand-cut book: Book spread overlaying typed text with blue-lit photographs of a fluorescent light fixture on a wall and a window in a bare brick room.
Installations, London 002, hand-cut book: Book spread of photographs of a wall-mounted white rectangle with fluorescent light in a brick space, with a stencilled number 4.
Installations, London 003, hand-cut book: Book spread of rows of eggs and oranges on narrow shelves against brick, in black-and-white and warm colour, with circular cut-outs.
Installations, London 004, hand-cut book: Book spread with a stencilled number 3, an orange on a stone ledge, a lit light-fixture photo and a dark arched window over typed text.
Installations, London 005, hand-cut book: Book spread with a captioned black-and-white photo of a glass jug of water on a shelf and a colour photo of it lit against brick.
Installations, London 006, hand-cut book: Book spread overlaying typed text with photographs of a water-filled glass jug in front of a painted white rectangle on a block wall.
Installations, London 007, hand-cut book: Book spread with a circular cut-out of typed text, a blue-toned photo of a figure on a bright wall, and a circle showing a camera.
Installations, London 008, hand-cut book: Book spread with a white relief panel on brick, a mirrored circular cut-out, and photographs of wine glasses on a whitewashed ledge.
Installations, London 009, hand-cut book: Book spread with close photographs of wine glasses holding water and a reflected face, plus a circular crop of a white relief.

PAINTING

Book Works 001, braille book, collage, hand-cut pages, circuit board, encaustic: Encaustic book-object painted white, open like a book, with stencilled letters on the left page and a raised brick-like panel on the right.
Book Works 002, book, collage, newsprint, hand-cut pages, oil and encaustic: Book-object with newsprint pages coated in encaustic wax, holding a murky photographic panel and a square of text on yellowed pages.
Book Works 003, book, collage, photograph, circuit board, hand-cut pages, encaustic: White plaster-like open book-object with a black photographic rectangle on the left page and small relief shapes on the right.
Book Works 004, book, collage, hand-cut pages, encaustic: Grey wax-coated book-object with a column of eggs and a spray of dried branches embedded in its textured surface.
Book Works 005, braille book, collage, hand-cut pages, encaustic: Closed block-like book-object in dark green and blue wax with a mottled, weathered surface, on a pale ground.
Book Works 006, book, collage, hand-cut pages, photograph, encaustic: White encaustic book-object with the word Continuity written in dark script, a framed photo of a door, and a perforated panel with colour.
Book Works 007, book, collage, hand-cut pages, photographs, encaustic: White book-object with the handwritten word reconstruction, a blue-grey waxy panel, and black-and-white photographs of figures above a brick relief.
Book Works 008, photographic paper, ammonia, oil paint: Mixed-media painting of layered white and grey paper and paint, with a red square and the word Breathe handwritten in red at top.
Book Works 009, book, collage, hand-cut pages, flowers, photograph, encaustic: Two-panel painting in thick white and grey impasto with newsprint traces, drips and a flower-like relief at lower right.
Book Works 010, book, collage, photographs, oil paint: Book-object painted in thick red and black, with two framed photographs: railway track bed at left and a shop front at right.
Book Works 011, book, collage, photographs, oil paint: Book-object with a large red disc on black at left and a pink-framed photograph of a dark doorway at right, painted in thick pigment.
Book Works 012, book, collage, photographs, oil paint: Book-object painted pink and red, framing a photo of a shop door with sale signs and a photo of a numbered post.
Book Works 013, book, collage, hand-cut pages, photographs, encaustic: White encaustic book-object with a large dark photographic window and the edge of a second photo showing a face.
Book Works 014, book, collage, hand-cut pages, encaustic: White plaster book-object with its pages curling and splitting, sitting against a pale wall.
Book Works 015, book, collage, hand-cut pages, photographs, sardine can, encaustic: White encaustic book-object with a folded flap cut to reveal a black rectangle, and a roughly framed hollow at right.
Book Works 016, book, encaustic: Open book-object coated in black encaustic, its surface cracked and glossy, photographed against a grey background.
Book Works 017, burned book, spray paint, encaustic: Dark, glossy wax-coated book-object with the red stencilled name Francis Burno across its open pages.
Book Works 018, burned book, spray paint, encaustic: Crumpled black and silver wax-coated book-object with pale stencilled lettering spelling a name across its open pages.
Book Works 019, burned book, spray paint, encaustic: Black wax-coated book-object scorched and twisted, with yellow stencilled letters across its open pages.
Book Works 020, burned book, spray paint, encaustic: Closed block-like book-object in silvery grey wax, its surface heavily rippled, with faint stencilled letters across it.
Book Works 021, burned book, spray paint, encaustic: Black encaustic book-object with the stencilled name Desmond Quinn in white, its pages torn and burnt.
Book Works 022, burned book, spray paint, encaustic: Dark brown charred book-object with a stencilled name in white letters across its open pages, with burnt holes in its surface.
Sleepless 001, pillow, bed, rocks, flowers, encaustic on canvas: Large black wall relief of a rumpled bed with a pillow and tangled sheets, coated in dark paint.
Mixed Media on Paper 001, graphite, oil paint, collage on masonite: Abstract painting of overlapping yellow, red, blue, green and pink shapes with black line drawing over a silver-grey ground.
Mixed Media on Paper 002, graphite, oil, collage on paper: Framed abstract drawing on white paper with looping black lines and patches of red, yellow, blue and green, hung on a wood wall.

1979

MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER

Mixed Media on Paper 003, pencil, oil pastel, burned sections: Abstract painting with two figures in blue and green hues, featuring dynamic brushstrokes and layered textures.

1988–91

During these years, Van Eyssen worked in London, L.A. and New York City where he produced bookworks — part encaustic paintings, part sculptures. Books of braille, encyclopedias, and the occasional cheap paperback provided canvasses that were burned, torn, cut, and reconstructed. Installations of multimedia work in abandoned office buildings and warehouses used light and sound pieces to dramatic advantage in empty spaces.

Do It Yourself was a box containing paint, brush, masking tape, and instructions (including an audio tape) for painting a white square. Finally, there were books — photographic documents of the installations. Using ‘cut and collage’ techniques, these began as records of exhibitions, but became pieces in themselves.

1988–91, bookworks Catalogue, Benjamin Rhodes Gallery. Essays, Edward Hoxie, V.A. Kolve, Jean-Louis Prat, Foundation Maeght: Exhibition catalogue Les Livres-peints de David Van Eyssen, open to a French essay beside a black-and-white portrait of a young long-haired man.
Conversation Piece 009, installation detail: Photograph of a wine glass with a small speaker and circuit board attached, mounted on tan card.
1988–91, bookworks Catalogue, Benjamin Rhodes Gallery. Essays, Edward Hoxie, V.A. Kolve, Jean-Louis Prat, Foundation Maeght: Catalogue page of an essay by Albert Hoxie on van Eyssen's encaustic book works, printed on cream paper.
Installations, London 010, hand-cut book: Book spread with installation photographs of a blue fluorescent light on a wall, in a brick space, and a stencilled number 4.
Installations, London 011, hand-cut book: Book spread with a dark arched window, typed text, an orange on a ledge and a stencilled number 3 over a light installation photo.
Do It Yourself 007: Spiral-bound book spread of two grainy black-and-white photographs of a woman in a kitchen with a cat and a shelf.
Do It Yourself 008, hand-cut book, c. 1991: Found book The Meier Art Tests I. Art Judgment with a square window cut through its cover, on a pale background.