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Stainless steel. Geometric shapes. Three sterile boxes, high and narrow with a curved and closed top stand in front of the Cor Emousschool on Twickelstraat. It is called 'Rhythm' and is by sculptor Phil van de Klundert. Rhythm' because the boxes, or are they books?, grow slightly larger each time according to a fixed size.

Anyone familiar with Van de Klundert's later poetic wooden creations can hardly imagine that 'Rhythm' is by his hand. He made the sculpture in 1981, in the spirit of constructivism. He was interested in form and construction. In the 1970s Van de Klundert often worked with soft, flexible rubber. Purely or in combination with hard, rigid metal sheets. For example, he 'sewed' stainless steel plates together with a thick rubber 'thread', which gave the connection a strong accent. The construction could be seen. Later, he did the same with bolts and nuts by greatly enlarging them. Not only did Van de Klundert show how the parts of his objects were put together, he also made simple, functional connecting elements an autonomous part of his art. Van de Klundert was fascinated by the beauty of the hexagonal shape of the bolt and the nut and wanted to emphasise their aesthetic value.

The depiction of ordinary things led to two remarkable works of art in his oeuvre. At right angles to his constructivist form language of the time are 'Kunstfruit' from 1975, of which only the banana remains in 2007, and the 'Tonnenmonument' from 1979. No geometry or abstraction, but directly derived from reality.
A completely different reality is Van de Klundert's starting point after the mid-nineties. Nature is his source of inspiration. Abstracted landscapes of rough wood and slate, sometimes in combination with a recognisable element in bronze, grow under his hands as it were. Construction is a thing of the past.