Joe Ryckebosch

Pattern Recognition

Tape is the “paint”. Not just any tape, but antiquated graphic tape used before computers overtook the drafting and architectural industry. I originally came across a small batch from a friend of mine who was working at a firm in San Francisco. I didn’t know what to do with it in the beginning. But I liked the way it looked, and for some reason, I noticed its endless potential.

Starting out slowly, and only using it sparingly with small projects, this tape, which I soon found out was called Chartpak Graphic Tape, became more and more appealing to me. Soon, I found myself taping random patterns all over my old drumheads. After my drumheads had been exhausted, I stopped taping for a while. But I researched Chartpak Graphic Tape and unfortunately found that it is very hard to come by. It is not readily available in most art stores, and thus far my acquisition of it comes from random e-Bay auctions. When I had amassed a sufficient amount of the elusive tape, I sat back and tried to devise new schemes for taping pieces that would be accessible, durable, and easy to display.

Canvases are too lightweight and give too easily under the pressure of securing the tape. Wooden panels--this was the answer--­and I found myself especially drawn to rectangular, wooden shelving units. The taping began again, but this time with a more focused and obsessive approach. I call the result “OCD Art”. I try to work at a feverish pace, and occasionally incorporate other mixed media into the pieces, e.g. vinyl colored tile, masonite boards, fabric swatches, and adhesive stickers. I admire how easily the graphic tape can be fused into a piece and “tweaked” according to what I need.

I can’t really explain it, but for some reason making these pieces simultaneously soothes and irritates my obsessive-compulsive personality. I like to get lost in the patterns and feel that they help eliminate many of my unwanted obsessive thoughts, but at the same time, I expect the pieces to be perfect and flawless, making for many hours spent agonizing over something like a single line. Despite these hang-ups, I try to let the pieces develop naturally, letting them flow into their own design during the assembling process.