Tandwiel voor crusher Possibly 1932 - 1939

This photograph of a 'Tandwiel voor crusher' or 'Gear Wheel for Crusher' at the Rijksmuseum, was made by an anonymous artist, at an unknown date. It’s a study in monochrome, captured in shades of gray, and that simplicity is kinda what draws me in. There's a tactile quality to the cogs, you can almost feel the cool, hard surface of the metal, with its perfect teeth, designed for crushing. They were built to be functional and hardwearing, but arranged this way in a photograph, they become an object of pure aesthetic pleasure. The image reduces the gears to pure geometric form. I find myself wondering what other artists, maybe someone like Bernd and Hilla Becher, who famously documented industrial structures, might have made of these objects. It's all about seeing the beauty in the mundane, finding the extraordinary in the everyday. For me, art is just a conversation, constantly evolving and endlessly fascinating.