‘push up - pull down, Daphne after the hunt’ 1995-1996
bronze, about 2m30 high

here in front of Langeveld, a psychiatiric clinic Langeveld in Noordwijkerhout, NL
commissioned in 1993 by the Prins Bernhard Fonds Amsterdam
(more information below)
presently in the sculpture garden of the Lakenhal, Leiden NL
also exhibited in ‘De Paleistuin’, Lange Voorhout Den Haag 2005
and in the 2009 exhibition ‘Daphne, Mythos und Metamorphose’ in the Gerhard Marks Haus Bremen:

other carrier works: ‘orante’ 1995 (wood) / ‘balling’ 1992 (clay) / ‘reikende’ 1997 (plaster) /

a limiting work: ‘tot hier’ 1993-2003 (drawing)
a reaching work: ‘up!’ 2001 (animation) /

more information on ‘push up - pull down, Daphne after the hunt’ 1995-1996
This work is the only large work of mine in bronze (I made a bronze model as well)
it has a story… with maybe some triggering words

It was commissioned by a the Prins Berhard Fonds, a Dutch organisation that at that time, stimulated young artists to start working in public space.
The artist could choose the location and the organisation would help guide the process and finance the work.
I was selected as one of these young artists in 1993 (just after winning first prize Prix de Rome Sculpture in 1992).

I chose to make this work for Langeveld, a psychiatiric clinic in Noordwijkerhout, NL.
Thinking of the mental health battles that people are going through, I wanted to make a work
taking Daphne’s transformation into a laurel tree
as a form of overcoming or surviving: seeing the laurel tree as a form of new/different strength.
I was so inspired by the Daphne sculpture by Bernini in Rome (where I had gone after winning the Prix :)

The sculpture would come in a place where in the past a Catholic Jesus “with open heart” had been.
As I often work with paradox, I was thinking about both the rootedness of the Daphne (toes - or in my case legs growing into roots, into the ground) and the aspect of the arms turning into branches, reaching for the sky
Therefore I added ‘push up pull down’ to the title ‘Daphne after the hunt’
(because of course her changing was caused by a traumatic event, being hunted and almost caught/raped)

I made a model, and showed this to the Prins Berhard Fonds mentor and to the director of Langeveld,
aware that I was that my work is considered as ’too intense’ by some people
as it can in some evoke strong affects.

During the process, the management of this clinic changed and therefore there was no real guidance/feedback on the model.
When the work was unveiled, there was a gasp of shock from the people who were there.
It turned out that no one was aware what kind of work was coming…
Within months, I was asked to come and talk to the people of Langeveld.
They explained to me that the sculpture was right in the path of people recovering from anorexia and that its wiry body surface was too triggering for some of them.
They were covering the work with ivy branches.
It was clear that these people understood my work on a very deep and intimate - and therefore painful - level.

I was not told before, that my work would be in the way of people dealing with these issues.
Of course I never intended my work to be triggering in this way for them.
I consented to the sculpture to be moved to the Lakenhal sculpture garden
(and later temporarily to ‘De Paleistuin’ in The Hague and to the Gerhard Marks Museum Bremen).
maybe my work works better in an environment where people intend to see art…
I have only done one more commission in public space (’Bump!’ 2001), but then never again.