RDM-er (2015) Cor Kraat
One of the designs that Kraat made on his own initiative in recent years has been saved in steel RDM-er. It is a tribute to the workers of the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM), an important shipyard on Heijplaat in Rotterdam between 1902 and 1996. Kraat wanted to see the image realized somewhere on the RDM site and approached the Port of Rotterdam Authority, who ordered him to carry out the RDM-er. A tribute of steel in memory of the people who made this company world-famous. It stands for all people who have worked at the RDM, from doctor to director. The design is a portrait of a man who proudly looks at the current users of the RDM site. He identifies with the company, parts of his face and cap have taken on forms from the environment. His cap looks like a ship, his nose a ship's bow. The wrinkles are like waves or rivers and his pupils are formed by ships of which you do not know whether they are sailing towards you or away from you, from the past to the present and vice versa. The unveiling of the RDM-er took place on 28 in May 2015.
Cor Kraat (Rotterdam, 1946) was educated at the Rotterdam Academy of Art from 1965 to 1971. From 1979 to 1992, Kraat worked in the artists' collective Kunst & Vaarwerk with Hans Citroen and Willem van Drunen. Kunst & Vaarwerk focused on monumental art in the city. Between 1979 and 1983 Cor Kraat taught screen printing at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. Kraat was also co-founder of the Black Cat gallery, a gallery for contemporary visual art on the Mauritsweg from 1978 to 1987.