Stone in please

Stone in please (2023) by Berend Strik uses an unusual grammatical construction — "stone in please" — that suggests a corruption of "step in please" or perhaps a literal request to put a stone inside something.

The stone — heavy, permanent, ancient — set against the invitation "please" creates a productive tension. Stones do not usually respond to invitations; they are simply present, massive, indifferent to human requests.

Strik frequently works with geological imagery — stones, rocks, geological formations — that represent deep time, the long duration of the earth compared to human civilization. This deep time perspective gives his work a gravitas that matches the weight of the stone.

The corrupted phrase may also suggest something about language, meaning, and miscommunication — how messages get distorted in transmission, how meaning slips away from intention.

Sources: Galerie Fons Welters