Scratch-off postcards by Soltani+Leclercq reveal instant artwork from the Rijksmuseum
Making reference to the scratching technique made famous by hip hop artists, Soltani+LeClercq invented ‘SCRATCH MY RIJKS’. Swapping vinyl records for art, the duo has covered postcards from Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum with gold scratch-off film, and using a coin, users can reveal the hidden artwork that lies beneath.
With this project Soltani+LeClercq aimed to convey the museum’s primary missions of storing, restoring, and displaying art pieces. These tasks are emulated in the postcards, which depict the museum collection, by ways of masking, scratching, and revealing the underlying image – thus turning the casual patron into an archivist, a restorer, an artist, and a viewer; and transforming the kitsch by-product, the postcard, into an original piece.
The gold color of the scratch-off film was further used to bridge the high culture of the past with the emerging subversion of present mass culture, on the one hand alluding to the dutch golden age, arguably the momentous cockpit of Rijksmuseum’s collection, and on the other, evocative of glitzy modalities of sweepstakes advertisements and instant win games ubiquitously integrated into everyday shopping experiences, mail, or online browsing.
A glimpse of ‘The Milkmaid’ painted by Vermeer c. 1660
The Milkmaid 1660, Johannes Vermeer
The Jewish Bride 1665-69, Harmenszoon van Rijn Rembrand
Old Woman Reading1631-32, Gerard Dou
Night Watch 1642 , Harmenszoon van Rijn Rembrandt
2020-22 © Soltani+LeClercq
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