Auke de Vries b. 1937

Auke de Vries (*1937) was trained at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague. He first worked as a painter and graphic artist. In 1959 he was awarded the Royal Grant for the Art of Painting. He has made metal sculptures since the nineteen-seventies. His sculptures are light, abstract constructions composed of geometric shapes that appear to float in air: lines, cones, cubes, cylinders and planes. From 1972 to 1986 he was an associate teacher at the Academy of Visual Arts in The Hague and from 1986 to 1996 at the Royal. Academy of Visual Arts in Amsterdam.

Initially, we associate a sculptor with the artist who works with figures, carved in stone or cast in bronze, homages to society's famous sons and daughters. The sculptor who represents heroism and loyalty, veneration and remembrance, triumph and consolation. Auke de Vries has assigned himself a different duty.

A 200-meter long cable hung with shapes and objects is suspended along the banks of the River Maas in Rotterdam. Playing with the water, dancing in the wind, the cable connects and represents the city and the river. In Berlin, on top of the immense Daimler-Benz building, an object balances on the edge of the roof. The 'Landed' sculpture fascinates, holds your gaze, is awe-inspiring and gives you a slight shudder at the thought of passing underneath it. A sculpture such as this is not without engagement, not intended as an ornament in the park or stone memorial on a square. It is a human, artistic intervention in a city, an act that accentuates the relationship between people and architecture. Auke de Vries likes to interfere with the city. The aesthetic value of a sculpture is not his first priority. The intervention in the space, the desirability, nay, the necessity, of placing that sculpture in that particular place is what matters to him.