On Wednesday, October 23, the relocation of Two columns (1977) by Rotterdam artist Gust Romijn was festively celebrated at the new location on the Kromme Zandweg. BKOR asked Marianne Kleijwegt (heirs of Gust Romijn) three questions about the artist who made seven sculptures for the public space of Rotterdam. “It has to be lively instead of a dead place.”
Gust Romijn made Two columns in front of the Energiehal, where the bright red objects contrasted strongly with the elongated, black-and-white facade. At the new location, the work is in the park, where it can be seen from multiple perspectives. Does that give you a new perspective on the work?
The bright red color of Two columns was beautiful against the black and white facade of the hall, but Gust did not intend for the work to be attached to the building. This was done for safety reasons. After that, the sculpture stood for years as a landmark at the entrance of the Neptunus Baseball Stadium opposite the Van Nelle Factory and at the sculpture exhibition Art South in Amsterdam. Two columns was set up in a grass field at both locations, with a number of trees in the background. Now at the new location, the artwork comes into its own even better, because it needs space. You can now look at it from different angles and from different distances, but also lean against it.
Gust Romijn lived in New York for a while in the sixties. Once back in the Netherlands, his 'cool years' followed. Color-painted metal sculptures then became prominent in his work. How does Two columns in this development?
Gust always worked in periods. Initially he made clay figurines and drawings, then graphics, paintings, sculptures in iron, aluminium, tin, bronze, plaster, concrete, mosaic, neon, perspex, chromed and painted steel. He talks about this development in an interview: “Each sculpture has its own expression, but has no representation. They are images for the sake of images. In the beginning round shapes, then a combination of round and pole-like shapes, then wavy and winding poles and finally just poles. The simpler the shape, the greater the tension. Hence the poles. Sometimes these shapes are repeated: twice, six times or 25 times. They are inspired by modern technology, space travel or whatever. It is the expression of a world of thought, of my world of thought. It is uninhibited, it is playful. They are shapes that you have inside you. I do not want a shock effect. I want to make something nice, something cheerful, something fine. It should be lively instead of a dead end.” (Source: Gust Romijn in conversation with students Mout and Van Wink & in the news magazine Europoort '67, 1969 and 1972).
Gust Romijn has created many works of art for public spaces over the years, in ever new forms of expression, from organic bronze to cool steel. To what extent did the interaction with the viewer play a role in his work?
Gust was happy with commissions for public space, but he was most charmed when sculptures were purchased in his studio or at an exhibition. When he received commissions, he tried to respond to the location. On the playground of a nursery school in Capelle aan de IJssel he made painted granite Dolphins jumping above water (1981), where children could play. This is also the case with the sculpture Dinner time (1995) in Amersfoort-Kattenbroek. On a mound are nine blue-painted steel tables with a bronze potato on each table. At the bottom of the mound is a daycare center and the children are allowed to play on 'the potato mountain'. Gust was also inspired by the location at the Montessori Lyceum Rotterdam. The sculpture is not called Bird flying out.
Two large bronze statues from 1965 have shapes that one can climb on and crawl through and walk underneath. The statue Clouds stood at the Daniel den Hoed Clinic, but has been on the square at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam since 2019. The other sculpture is The infinite house, which is located in the Ruigeplaatbos in Hoogvliet. Gust has always been an advocate of interaction with his sculptures. These images may also be played with.