Testen van een wals 1931 - 1937

Here we have some photographs of a wals, or road roller, pasted into an album by an anonymous artist at an unknown date. This little collection is, for me, all about the surface. The monochrome palette emphasizes the textures—the matte paper of the album page, the gloss of the photographs themselves, and the rough surfaces of the wals. Look how the crisp edges of each image sit so neatly on the page, creating a sense of order and control. But then, the subject matter disrupts this, doesn’t it? The wals is a machine designed to compress, to flatten, to change the surfaces it encounters. The tilted perspective of the two right-hand photographs brings a strange sense of drama. It’s almost as if the wals is about to topple over, a moment of instability captured within the otherwise calm presentation of the album. It reminds me a little of some of Bernd and Hilla Becher's photographic series. They shared the same interest in industrial structures and the language of photography. But where the Bechers have a clean and austere aesthetic, this artist has something more informal and personal. It really speaks to the beauty of the everyday.