Nico Laan

As part of the Escher Year celebrations, Fotomuseum Den Haag is presenting a series of works by the Hague-based photographer Nico Laan (1956). His large-scale ‘impossible’ sand drawings bear a resemblance to M.C. Escher’s well-known optical illusions, but with a quirky twist: his drawing materials consist of the beach, a shovel, a rake and home-made tools. Laan made the drawings that he photographed for the Temporary Drawings series on the artificial sand bank between Kijkduin and Monster, not far from the museum.

Laan makes his works in collaboration with nature, using only materials and elements that are present on site. He cannot know how nature will influence his drawings, sometimes leading to surprising transformations of his planned designs. The drawings can be flooded by the sea, blown away by the wind or be influenced by reflections in the water. Eventually, they all disappear completely. Laan does not see these unpredictable changes as a disadvantage, but rather as an important part of his work.

Nico Laan started making his so-called ‘anamorphoses’ in 2008. These drawings, which are on average forty metres wide, assume their correct perspective only when viewed from a particular vantage point: from the air. Laan documents his work with a camera attached to a kite or a drone. Thanks to these photographs, the Temporary Drawings are preserved for eternity.

The presentation can be seen in the lounge next to the museum cafe Gember and can be visited free of charge.