Sash (2022) Ron van der Ende
The festive unveiling of the artwork took place on Saturday 17 December 2022 Sash made by the Rotterdam artist Ron van der Ende. Sash is a 17 meter high 3D sliding window that is placed in perspective on the facade of an apartment complex on the corner of Voorschoterlaan and Oudedijk. The work consists of hundreds of wooden parts that have been worked and treated by a team under the supervision of the artist. The wood comes from seven poplars from the Kralingse Bos, which had to be felled due to instability. In total, 4 kilometers of wooden planks have been incorporated into the artwork. All planks were 'baked' again and preserved in such a way that they have been given a deep dark color and can last for quite some time. The relief hangs from the wall via an invisible steel construction, creating an optical illusion: from some points it seems as if a giant sash window floats into the street. The project was initiated by the residents' initiative Kunst op de Kop, which has championed a better area design at the head of the Voorschoterlaan. From a series of sketch assignments to artists, the residents chose Ron van der Ende. It is his first monumental work of art in the public space of Rotterdam. BKOR led the project together with artistic advisor and visual artist Olphaert den Otter. Ron's daughter Mila van der Ende turned the entire process into a beautiful one film in which the creation of the work of art is recorded.
Ron van der Ende (Delft, 1965) is a Rotterdam artist. He studied at the Willem de Kooning Academy, initially painting, but later switched to sculpture. Through his father who worked at a carpentry factory, he became acquainted with working with wood. In 1990 Van der Ende won the WdKA Maaskant Prize. From the mid-2014s he decided to work exclusively with scrap wood. He makes perspective wall sculptures from this material using a complex traditional technique. He uses materials that people have thrown away, such as old furniture, floorboards or doors, which he processes into a heavy veneer with the original paint still on it; the traces of use become part of the image. Van der Ende's work is regularly shown in galleries in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Seattle and Los Angeles. In XNUMX his work was shown in the Kunsthal in the exhibition The Factory Set, showing 38 bas-reliefs.