Nederlandsch-Indisch oorlogsspel 1903

This is "Nederlandsch-Indisch oorlogsspel," a board game, by Van Holkema & Warendorf. I'm really taken by the way this map unfolds, like layers of a slightly surreal stage set. The colors are muted, like it's been aged in tea, and the little numbered circles scatter across the surface, each one a step in some unknown game. There's a real charm in how the artist renders the figures, almost like paper cutouts pasted onto the scene. Look at how the clouds of smoke are rendered, they seem to be rising above the horizon almost like a wallpaper print. It reminds me that art-making is always a conversation, and echoes of artists like Red Grooms come to mind. Ultimately, this piece embraces the ambiguity, inviting us to interpret and create our own narratives. In the end, it is this ambiguity that makes art so endlessly fascinating.