In 1963, artist Bouke Ylstra created this graphic wall on the outer and inner wall of the former municipal printing office in Bredestraat, just behind Mariniersweg. You have to look carefully, but once you've seen it, it's worth a bike ride. The work is comparable to his graphic wall in the Stadhuisplein metro station from 1966. This work is slightly smaller, but just as intriguing. Both works are made with the same technique: the drawing is carved or ground in the white concrete slabs, then inlaid with black composite and then ground flat. The wall, as it were, protrudes through the facade and only a quarter of the entire work is outside. When entering the building, you walk along the other part with Ylstra's abstract drawings. The work was applied in the context of the percentage scheme when the municipal printing office of Rotterdam was located here.
Bouke Ylstra (The Hague, 1933 - Dordrecht, 2009) grew up in Rotterdam. From 1950 to 1954 he attended the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam, where he later started teaching himself. He worked as a graphic artist, draftsman and painter, commissioned for buildings and for the built environment. A constant in his work was the portrayal of a somewhat fragile yet cheerful person, who holds his own in a world of geometry and who often does well, but still radiates a sense of clumsiness. Line predominates in his drawings.
Concrete with surcharge (molded in / colored black)
Dimensions
8 2.20 x m
Year
1963
Client
Municipality of Rotterdam
Recruitment
Concerned assignment
Money source
Percentage regulation
Owner
Property owner
About the artwork
In 1963, artist Bouke Ylstra created this graphic wall on the outer and inner wall of the former municipal printing office in Bredestraat, just behind Mariniersweg. You have to look carefully, but once you've seen it, it's worth a bike ride. The work is comparable to his graphic wall in the Stadhuisplein metro station from 1966. This work is slightly smaller, but just as intriguing. Both works are made with the same technique: the drawing is carved or ground in the white concrete slabs, then inlaid with black composite and then ground flat. The wall, as it were, protrudes through the facade and only a quarter of the entire work is outside. When entering the building, you walk along the other part with Ylstra's abstract drawings. The work was applied in the context of the percentage scheme when the municipal printing office of Rotterdam was located here.
Bouke Ylstra (The Hague, 1933 - Dordrecht, 2009) grew up in Rotterdam. From 1950 to 1954 he attended the Academy of Visual Arts in Rotterdam, where he later started teaching himself. He worked as a graphic artist, draftsman and painter, commissioned for buildings and for the built environment. A constant in his work was the portrayal of a somewhat fragile yet cheerful person, who holds his own in a world of geometry and who often does well, but still radiates a sense of clumsiness. Line predominates in his drawings.
