Commissioned illustration 'Under water' by Mr. Upside was delivered at our gallery and at KPN
It is 08.50h when the door bell rings. Janette and I are still busy getting the kids ready for daycare. A fairly large cardboard box is carried in by the friendly courier. For this digital illustration, printed on white aluminum, the Mr. Upside gallery is just a stopover. Today I will do the finishing touch, placing my Mr. Upside signature. Later this week I hope to be able to bring it to Amsterdam and deliver it the customer, the KPN Backoffice division. KPN is one of the largest telecommunications providers of The Netherlands.
Back in the delivery chain
The KPN Backoffice division ensures that an order which cannot be handled properly for various reasons, is fixed and placed back into the delivery chain. This involves many processes taking place without customers ever noticing it. Significant work though. For the customer as well as for KPN. That and a blank wall, was reason enough for KPN Online Sales Director Peter Sonke asking Mr. Upside again to create this third commissioned artwork for KPN.
Under water
Because of the invisible processes this KPN division handles, the whole setting of this illustration is placed under water. On the surface and a little bit more visible to the customer, there is a chain of ships. They represent the orders that are being carried from the KPN stores and webshop to the customers.
Online craftsmanship
Sometimes an order ‘falls off’ the chain. Those orders, with an error, are represented in the illustration by open packages. An octopus (KPN Backoffice) catches these ‘lost’ orders and assures they are corrected (closed) and put back into the chain, onto a vessel.
Just as in ‘Ecosystem’, also an assignment to Mr. Upside by KPN, staff is represented by three collaborating heads. The headphones are a recurring theme in my work,. They represent communication in general and listening specifically; listening to yourself. But in the case of KPN, also listening to customers. The tool box represents online craftsmanship. The lighthouse stands for vision and represents the KPN headquarters.
Aluminum Dibond
The illustration (180x135cm / 70,8” x 53”) is printed by Dutch printer Webprint on Dibond. Dibond is a sandwich plate consisting of three layers; two very thin layers of aluminum with hard plastic in between. Dibond is widely used for photography in galleries.
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