26 Nov 2016 – 23 Apr 2017
Move On brings together the work of Dutch artists, ranging from Tom Claassen to Gerrit van Bakel, and from Carel Visser and Panamarenko to Constant. Artists who initially seem to share no common ground. The selected works, however, do have something in common: a degree of movement, or at least a suggestion thereof. They have wheels, legs or wings, they can roll, walk or fly, or appear to have that ability. As semi-scientists, inventors or visionaries, these artists mobilise thinking with their works –
from extremely slow to faster than light. From Claassen’s animal overcome with despondency Untitled (Brigid) to Panamarenko’s utopian rubber racing car Polistes, in an increasing tempo, Move On sets the imagination in motion.
Untitled (Brigid) is a cross between an oversized cuddly toy and a paralysed monster. The creature cannot be motivated, it lies there stupefied. Despite its enormous size, the work appears vulnerable, partly due to the material used. Sluggish and cumbersome, it lies there occupying the space.
Tom Claassen (Heerlen, 1964) is known to a wider audience for his works of art in public spaces, such as the two Sitting Men (2000) at Schiphol or the herd of elephants beside the A6 at Almere (1999). Claassen is primarily interested in the formal aspects of his sculptures: shape, surface, skin and texture, and their relationship to the space. For his research into these abstract qualities, he actually uses very recognizable motifs, such as rabbits, sparrows and other animals and familiar objects.
He usually chooses not to give his works a title, to allow plenty of room for personal interpretation. The appendices between brackets are no more than a hint (Brigid is the name of his sister) or a description: Cars.
Untitled (Cars), in the next room, is a group of three cartoonish cars – dented and damaged and spread around the space – one of which lies on its side and another on its roof. For Claassen it is important that all sides of the cars are visible. Is this the site of an accident? Has speed been halted abruptly here?
‘When I had just started I was mainly concerned with occupying space. With filling. That still fascinates me: how do you fill a space as a sculptor, without it being noticeable that it’s a filling?’
Tom Claassen, 2009
