Text

Granito' stands on a table-shaped pedestal on the Thorbeckelaan. The title of the abstract sculpture refers simply to the material it is made of: granito, a mixture of cement and pieces of natural stone. Granito is the favourite material of sculptor Hans Kleyweg. Sometimes he combines it with stone, but mostly he uses granito alone. The model on which he bases his sculptures is made of clay. Kleyweg pours the granito mixture into a mould the size of the actual sculpture. Finally, he sanded and polished the sculpture.

Granito' consists of three main forms. Two slightly curved 'uprights' hold a half, slightly tilted 'U' in the air. The long 'leg' of the 'U' sticks up gracefully. The 'uprights' are pointing downwards.

Kleyweg gets his inspiration from the dunes, where the wind sometimes gives the sloping sand hills a sharp edge. The curved forms of his sculptures, such as 'Granito' from 1975, may sometimes be angular, but the sculptures always have a soft appearance. At the end of the 1970s, we see the lines of his sculptures bend further and further, creating - inevitably - a ring. Not a perfect circle, but a ring like an eye or a drop. The ring is also not always closed. Kleyweg often leaves a small opening at the bottom. For a number of these 'ring' sculptures he took the female torso as a starting point.

Whatever his sources, for Kleyweg sculpture essentially remains a 'game with space'. The space he encloses with forms and which he allows into his sculpture in the form of a hole or a hollow. Once placed in the urban environment, the 'game with space' begins anew.