Some Billiards 1976-1979 — Jacqueline de Jong

A drama in three cushions. Jacqueline de Jong’s billiard scenes of 1976 to 1979 form a quasi-filmic sequence where visual intrigues follow sporting conspiracies one after another. The paintings demonstrate a powerful observing eye, exactly what the game – where one watches, perhaps evenmore so than in others – is disposed to cultivate. We find ourselves perched omnisciently in front of the canvases, hands clasped behind the back, leant a little forward so that we may see better, appreciate the strategy, scrutinise the technique of the shot as it’s delivered, and calculate the consequences to come. The spectator becomes referee-observer of a felted theatre, intimately close to the gestures, yet peripheral. These works are based on carom billiards, which is played with two white balls and one red on a pocketless table, and henceforth the game discussed. A little reminder:
shocking her cue ball, the competitor must simply strike the two other balls; she then wins a point and the right to make the next move, condemning her adversary to play passive witness to his own defeat.