Rafaël Rozendaal

Extra Nervous (2022)

In this last decade, Rafaël Rozendaal (NL, 1980) has made a name with his artworks in the shape of websites, and the way he translates his online work to physical media, like prints, tapestries and installations. With this new line of plexiglass works, Extra Nervous, Rozendaal continues his investigation in the transition from movement into abstraction and from virtual into physical space.

In what can be considered the shortest path from digital to physical, the compositions Rozendaal created are coded to be lasercut by a computer out of mirrored colored plexiglass. They translate an exact, digital line into the physical world, like a mechanical way of drawing. The mirroring colors refer to the experience of color in the digital world: smooth, without texture, seen through the glass of a screen. The reflecting aspect of the artworks adds an extra layer of elusiveness to the tangible translation of the digital.

Through the use of mirrors, there’s also a sense of movement in the works. They deal with interactivity in the most basic form: the image changes along with the point of view of the observer. Reacting to all kinds of light, the artworks will always live a life outside the control of the artist’s human hand. The reflecting aspect of the artworks adds an extra layer of elusiveness to the tangible translation of the digital.