Artwork Data
Title
Object
Artist
Year
1983
Material
ijzer
Dimensions
h. 135 cm
Partial collection
Artwork Location
Address
Zuiderpark, Den Haag
City district
Escamp
GPS data
52.050316642219, 4.2858055888855 View on map
Artwork Description
Text
A closer look at his various sculptures from The Hague can divide them roughly into two categories. Alongside geometrically abstract metal constructions, there are sculptures with soft, round forms that evoke associations with visible reality. Two worlds, one artist: sculptor Joop Pellinkhof.
His 'square' object that originally stood in the park near the Westhovenplein and now in the Zuiderpark, fits in the first category; 'Homecoming', his expressive sculpture from 1988, in the second. A steel figure stands against a bronze column. The sculpture is reminiscent of a torso: a female figure on one leg, the buttocks greatly enlarged, directly above them breasts and a small head. Arms seem to be missing.
The contrast with the 'square' object from 1983 is obvious. The iron 'square' consists of four triangles welded together. Here the rational Pellinkhof comes to the fore. It is an ingenious, almost mathematically composed geometric figure. In the centre of the sculpture, a small square rests on a larger square that is raised on one side and recessed on the other. Pellinkhof repeats this principle.
Whether the emphasis is on reason or on feeling, metal remains Pellinkhof's favourite material. He constructs and welds his sculptures himself. He laid the foundations for this at technical school. He developed his creative talents at the Free Academy in The Hague. Pellinkhof is a sculptor who seeks a balance between the two extremes of the human mind: reason and emotion. Depending on the nature of the commission, his mood or his inspiration, he concentrates on one of the two in each individual work of art or combines them in one sculpture. And that brings a pleasant variation within his oeuvre.