'Floor reliefs' 1971-1972

'From square to circle'
'From square to quadrangle'
'Square with middle lines'
'Square with diagonals'

Location: On the lawn outside Vertigo 

After the expressive and colorful period of Cobra in the 1950s many artists in the 1960s responded anew to form, light and material. As did Ad Dekkers (1938 -1974), who graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts and Technical Sciences in Rotterdam in 1958.

In the Netherlands it is Ad Dekkers in particular who elevates abstract art to a higher level. According to him you cannot suggest space in the flat plane, a tenet that many painters are convinced of. Dekkers starts sawing objects out of wood that he places on a basis, at various levels. That 'real' space does not satisfy him either; it is only with the relief that Dekkers finds his true form of expression.

For this he uses different materials: wood, cardboard, plastic and concrete. Inspired by Mondrian among others he tries through abstract forms to express his pursuit of balance and harmony. He tries to achieve this by omitting inessentials, by using just one color and only symmetry. Further, Dekkers chooses geometric shapes such as the circle, the square and the triangle.

For the patios of the then Rekencentrum (now the Laplace building) Dekkers designs four floor reliefs. At the official installation in 1972 he writes: 'I want to support the magnificent architecture through the greatest integration possible. The building consists mainly of straight lines and diagonals, which is also the main theme of these sculptures. ... . The height of the sculptures has always been chosen in such a way that one can easily look down on and up to them and can easily sit down on them."

When the Laplace building was renovated in 2001 the floor reliefs were removed from the patios. Landscape architect Richard Koek and ir. Jean Leering, former director of the Van Abbemuseum, make this design for the floor reliefs in 2002. As a result, the reliefs are in an architectonic environment again and possessions of the public domain.

See alo: Vubis database

Links Ad Dekkers
http://www.tue.nl/cursor/bastiaan/jaargang43/cursor27/cultuur.shtml
http://www.tue.nl/cursor/bastiaan/jaargang43/cursor14/cultuur.shtml
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=990
http://www.mo-artgallery.nl/dekkersplhr.htm
http://www.afk.nl/beelden.asp?qry=dekkers&page=
http://www.spence.net/collection/artwork.php?artid=93