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Suspended Moment X

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Oceanic Systems serie · by vonMoerenburgh

Suspended Moment X

Original on Hahnemühle paper · Hahnemühle fine art paper, crystal glass pigments, airbrush application

$950

Just before the thunderstorm hit, the crystal clear water between Koh Phangan and Koh Samui turned black. The sky was still warm. The island was still there. The boat kept moving. X is the only work in the Suspended Moment series made from a moment of menace rather than contemplation. On Hahnemühle paper the crystal glass pigments hold the warm orange sky and the suddenly dark water in the same surface. The tension between them does not resolve. It is the minute before the storm.

No payment now — the artist will contact you personally.

Details

Dimensions

40 × 20 cm

Subject matter

Small Thai island seen from a boat between Koh Phangan and Koh Samui, the moment before a thunderstorm, crystal clear water turned black

Medium

Hahnemühle fine art paper, crystal glass pigments, airbrush application

Suited for

BedroomLiving room

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From the studio

“The boat from Koh Phangan to Koh Samui. The thunderstorm hit during the crossing. Just before it, the crystal clear water turned black. Not gradually: one minute the Gulf of Thailand was turquoise, the next it was the colour of deep ocean with no light in it. A small island was visible off the side of the boat and it stayed the same while everything around it changed. The sky was still warm. The island was still there. The water was no longer what it had been. The boat kept moving. That minute, between the turquoise and the black, is what this work holds.”

vonMoerenburgh

Living with this work

The paper surface holds the warm and cool registers differently at different distances. From across the room the composition reads as warm sky over dark water, the island anchoring the centre. At close range the crystal glass pigments in the orange field produce a warmth that the dark water below deliberately withholds. The work does not change in the way the atmospheric panel works change: it holds its tension consistently. What changes is how much of that tension the viewer brings to it on any given day.

Where it lives

Room by room: where this work thrives, where it struggles, and exactly where to hang it.

Room fit

The Hahnemühle paper format is intimate and requires framing with UV-protective glass. The warm orange and red registers in the upper field perform best under natural or warm directional light. Morning light gives a cooler reading with the blue-teal water dominant. Evening lamp light advances the orange sky and the surface generates warmth. Position at 145 cm to center on a neutral or white wall with 50 to 100 cm of close viewing distance. The crystal glass pigments in the surface reveal themselves at proximity: the dark water field and the warm sky field behave differently under the same light.

Strong fit

The paper format and the charged emotional register make this a strong bedroom piece for collectors who want a work that holds something specific rather than something serene. The orange sky comes forward under warm evening lamp light. The dark water field stays. Position at 145 cm to center on a white or neutral wall with warm directional lighting. Frame with UV-protective glass.

Work size40 x 20 cm
Hang height (center)145 cm
Wall coverageIntimate display
Ideal viewing distance0.5 - 1.5 m

About the artist

V

vonMoerenburgh

The Hague, The Netherlands

48,000 miles. Panama to New Zealand, Brazil to Hawaii. vonMoerenburgh was crossing the Pacific, then crossing it again, from a different angle. The ocean kept finding him. Eventually, he stopped leaving.

He came to art late. Thirty years in design, gaming, and publishing, then at 49, he started making art. The work is built on a digital foundation, finished by hand with crystal glass pigments that shift with the light. The same surface reads differently depending on where you stand and what the light is doing.

He always meant to go to art school. This is what happened instead.

www.vuvu.nl@joostvonm@vonmoerenburgh