Artwork Data
Artwork Location
Address
Ruth Firstplein, Den Haag
City district
Centrum
GPS data
52.0688830210347, 4.28694214497868 View on map
Artwork Description
Text
Cheerfully coloured in the primary colours red, yellow and blue in combination with the calm grey. They are the ribs of the enormous cube on the square between Christian de Wetstraat and Kockstraat. The object of sculptor Flip Lambalk stands in the Transvaal neighbourhood in The Hague. It is a simple form, yet something about it is striking.
If you look closely, you will see that each corner rib is painted in the same colour as one of the horizontal ribs. In this way, two ribs are optically connected and together form the capital letter L, upright or upside down. This optical effect is reinforced by the fact that the ribs of the base are not entirely closed. A piece is missing on each side. This also makes it easy to walk in and out of the cube as if it were a house.
Lambalk's works of art are geometrically abstract, but are also referred to as 'constructivist'. This is because Lambalk uses simple forms and primary colours. Furthermore, there is always a relationship between his art and the surrounding architecture, which is also characteristic of Constructivism. With his 1986 cube, which in closed form would be a space, Lambalk links up with the architectural forms of the new building.
Sometimes the connection between his sculpture and architecture is even closer and Lambalk and the architect exchange ideas. This happened in 1982 in Dordrecht, where he realised works of art in and around the new district police station. He did this together with artist Bouke IJlstra. With IJlstra, he subsequently wrote an overall vision of the visual arts for the Transvaal neighbourhood in 1984. Lambalk likes to work together with others, architects or artists.