Growth forms (1978) Leen Droppert
Since 1978, there have been three high columns of up to ten meters high in front of the entrance to the GGD (Municipal Health Service), made by artist Leen Droppert. One column is red, the other green and the third blue. Together they form a colorful vertical work of art against a horizontally bare and gray striped background. The statue is nicely situated against the entrance and stairs; an example of environmental design, as was often the case in the 1980s during the percentage scheme. The industrial-looking material and the popping, modern colors he used give the whole a somewhat lighter interpretation. Growth forms does not just blend into the streetscape; many Rotterdammers will recognize it.
Leen Droppert (Vlaardingen, 1930 – Vlaardingen, 2022) studied at the Amsterdam Graphic School during the day and at the Art Academy in Rotterdam in the evenings. From the early 1950s he has been working as a visual artist and spatial designer, often in Rotterdam and the surrounding area. It Geuzen monument (1983) in memory of the Geuzen resistance group on the Markt in Vlaardingen is his best-known work. Droppert completed it in 2008 Flood pile project Vettenoordse Polder also in Vlaardingen: four flood poles, which indicate the water level of the storm surge of 1775. In 2020, the Museum Vlaardingen organized a retrospective exhibition for his ninetieth birthday and seventy years of artistry.