{"id":14596,"date":"2021-06-28T12:41:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T10:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/plek\/de-ritterbecher\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T20:51:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T18:51:20","slug":"the-ritterbecher","status":"publish","type":"plek","link":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/plek\/the-ritterbecher\/","title":{"rendered":"Artwork \u2013 The Ritterbecher"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"template":"","plek_types":[82],"class_list":["post-14596","plek","type-plek","status-publish","hentry","plek_types-education"],"acf":{"tekstkleur":false,"nummer":135,"kleur":"#da532c","adres":{"address":"N281, 6351 Bocholtz, Nederland","lat":50.82732284915145,"lng":5.992777442358417,"zoom":14,"place_id":"ChIJNWBk_q-XwEcRaLzriW5LwKM","street_name":"N281","city":"Bocholtz","state":"Limburg","state_short":"LI","post_code":6351,"country":"Nederland","country_short":"NL"},"straatnaam":"N281","postcode":"6369 TE","plaats":"Bocholtz","website":"","website_url":"","hotspot_naam":"N281, Bocholtz","afbeelding":9442,"contactpersonen":"","email":"","telefoon":"","videobox_contentblok":"","content":"At the crossroads of the N281 and the Bocholtzerweg there is a work of art that gets people talking. Above the motorway towers a Roman vase that looks like papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9. Under the viaduct, drawings in bright colours cheer up the concrete pillars. They are the work of Tanja Ritterbex, who for this artwork takes inspiration from Roman history and from her own surroundings. Like the big boulder in Bocholtz, where she often sat on top as a child. When IBA Parkstad asks her to design a Roman vase, in her mind she returns to the unpolished form of that boulder.\r\n\r\n<b>Art is life\r\n<\/b>\r\n\r\nThe artist often draws from her own life in her work. \u201cWhen I receive a clearly defined commission, I first let go of it again. I always start from my own artistic practice, from my own working method. That is how an autonomous artwork comes into being,\u201d she explains. That pays off. In 2016 she won the prestigious Prize for Free Painting. Tanja has now been living and working in Berlin for years.\r\n\r\n\u201cArtists who inspire me are Jean Debuffet, Karel Appel or the lesser-known Maud Lewis. My heart beats faster for the na\u00efve, simple in art. During a colloquium in my student days at the D\u00fcsseldorf Academy I heard a New York artist say: \u2018Oh, it\u2019s the KISS principle: Keep It Simple Stupid\u2019. I believe in this principle.\u201d\r\n\r\n<b>Clear in the blink of an eye\r\n<\/b>\r\n\r\nIn other words, art does not have to be difficult. Her work on and under the viaduct proves that she lives by this conviction. Still, the Ritterbecher is certainly well thought out. Tanja visits Roman museums and studies the form and colour of Roman finds. \u201cThe Romans had vases with two handles, but also with three. I find the latter a beautiful concept. Because of those three handles, the vase has no front or back. Motorists can see this landmark from every direction, whether they come from Germany, the Netherlands or Belgium.\u201d\r\n\r\nTanja makes sketch designs of vases with whole stories on them. But she soon comes to the conclusion that her design must be clear in the blink of an eye. After all, you see it from the car. The Roman vases with a face on them, so-called face urns, offer a good alternative. The Romans used them as drinking vessels or urns, Tanja gives them her own contemporary twist. \u201cIn my work I draw not only from Roman times, but also from our contemporary culture,\u201d she explains.\r\n\r\n<b>Playing with materials<\/b>\r\n\r\n\u201cThis artwork would not be mine if it did not contain elements of our present time. I incorporated that \u2018modern\u2019 symbolism into the vase by putting a big smiling face on it. The cheerful Roman portrait has been translated into a smiley, a symbol that we use daily and that breathes our own time.\u201d Thus, the vase has not only three handles, but also three faces. The round shape of the vase also refers to the smiley.\r\n\r\n\u201cI draw in my work not only from Roman times, but also from our contemporary culture.\u201d\r\n\r\nTanja cites the Austrian sculptor Franz West as one of her examples. \u201cHe plays with these kinds of forms, first in papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 and later in polyester.\u201d The Ritterbecher shows the same kind of material confusion: the relation with heavy stone, the illusion of fragile papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9, and the actual material: hard but light aluminium.\r\n\r\nDoes she mind that the Romans did not use aluminium? Tanja can be brief: \u201cThat is not important to me. I chose a method and a material of today. In my artistic practice I find it important to use my own everyday inspiration.\u201d Contemporary art is not a copy of reality, she thinks: for a replica you don\u2019t need an artist.\r\n\r\n<b>Roman colours and forms\r\n<\/b>\r\n\r\nFor her work on the bridge pillars, Tanja dives specifically into the Roman past of Simpelveld and Bocholtz. Which finds were made, which drawings appeared on them, which colours were used? In the Thermenmuseum in Heerlen she studies the smallest objects in the display cases. She also draws inspiration from the sarcophagus of Simpelveld. She does not translate it literally, but abstracts it from reality by combining old and new: the Romans, her own method and everyday bustle and symbolism.\r\n\r\nBased on the Romans\u2019 use of colour, Tanja puts together a palette for the 12 pillars of the viaduct. Bright red is excluded: that is the colour of danger. She mixes the primary colours yellow and blue into the blue and turquoise tones of Roman glassware from the region. Tanja: \u201cI have seen examples of lilac, light blue and purple-blue glass. Incredibly beautiful colours. Terracotta and earthy tones also occur in many variations.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe total artwork is a monumental commission. To preserve monumental unity, she paints the same canopy on each pillar, a reference to Roman markets. \u201cRomans loved trading. They sold everything at the market, even flamingos to eat! I like the idea that today we still trade at the market.\u201d\r\n\r\nThe drawings on the pillars are abstract, sketch-like line drawings. They are derived from the relief inside the sarcophagus of Simpelveld and other Roman finds. You see a broken hairpin, a Roman buckle, a coin, a face urn, a hand mirror, doors, a little table and a vase. Tanja also combines these abstracted forms with symbols of our time, such as Roman children\u2019s toys with a rubber duck. Or a keyhole with a Wi-Fi logo: the Roman and the modern way to spy on others!\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">De tekeningen op de pilaren zijn geabstraheerde, schetsmatige lijntekeningen. Ze zijn afgeleid van het reli\u00ebf aan de binnenkant van de sarcofaag van Simpelveld en andere Romeinse vondsten. Je ziet een kapot haarspeldje, een Romeinse gesp, een munt, een gezichtsurn, een handspiegel, deuren, een tafeltje en een vaas. Die geabstraheerde vormen combineert Tanja ook hier met symbolen uit onze tijd, zoals Romeins kinderspeelgoed met een badeendje. Of een sleutelgat met een wifilogo: de Romeinse \u00e9n de hedendaagse manier om anderen te bespioneren!\u00a0<\/span>","slideshow":[9493,9499,9502,9511,9508,9505],"ontdekken_video_box":{"ontdekken_video_titel":"","ontdekken_video_paragraaf":"","ontdekken_video_iframe":""},"ontdekken_360_box":{"ontdekken_360_titel":"","ontdekken_360_paragraaf":"","ontdekken_360_iframe":""},"doen":null,"weten":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plek\/14596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plek"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/plek"}],"acf:attachment":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9505"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9508"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9511"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9502"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9499"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"plek_types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viabelgica.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plek_types?post=14596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}