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The monograph of his work*, which came out in 2004, opens with a revealing quote from Lon Pennock himself: 'My sculptures are about sculpture. The work I make is neither a medium of personal expression nor an expression of political ideals'.
Pennock's sculptural points of departure form a fixed element in an oeuvre that is, in fact, developing. From the second half of the eighties onwards, an increasing freedom with regard to material and composition can be discerned in his work. Simple metal forms, such as blocks and rods, are stacked in a seemingly disorderly fashion or are scattered on a large base plate. This working method is based on 'throwing exercises' by the artist in his studio. He photographs the compositions thus 'accidentally' created and later rearranges them with the greatest precision.
In addition, Pennock searches for the origin of the material. The rough skin of unprocessed blocks of ore fascinates him. A flaking surface, patches of colour, welds, rust and a bump remain visible. These traces of chance effects, the unevenness in fact, give his metal sculptures a strong poetic charge.
In the period between 1976 and 1985, the accent was on clarity and simplicity and on the essence of things. Like 'Intersection', which was placed in Kijkduin in 1981. An enormous box of sheet steel seems to 'float' above a similarly shaped second box. Pennock is concerned here with contrasts: heavy and light, form and counterform, earthly and heavenly. A monumental totem in an urban environment.
The stainless steel 'Tree' from 1972 is an early work. It was originally located on the Hoge Prins Willemstraat, but was later moved to the square near the church on the Scheveningseweg. At the time, Pennock rejected all superfluous aesthetics, but his work was not yet completely free of them. The tree should not be seen simply as an abstraction of nature. For the sculptor, it is about reaching for simplicity: a stage in the search for the core.

*skulpture 1968-2003 - lon pennock, Publisher Lannoo