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CITIES sculptures and land art

Ridderkerk

The first row of poplars makes an oblique angle with the facade of the main building. The angle is the same as the row of Italian Poplars on the north-east side of the building. The angle which the parallel rows make with the architecture results from a two dimensional sculptural element in the back of the school.

Farel -1988|1990 parallel rows of Italian poplar trees and steel elements - Farel School - NL

After ten years of growth the row of poplars reached a scale that recalls the paintings of the row of poplars by Claude Monet. When he was in the process of doing a series paintings of a row of poplars on the banks of the River Epte, he heard that the land was put up for sale and the trees were to be felled. So, in order to be able to finish his work, he purchased the land together with a wood merchant who could cut down the trees after Monet was finished with this project.

Claude Monet - Poplar trees on the banks of the River Epte - France.

poplars on the Banks of the River Epte by Claude Monet

"Monet used to be my favorite painter during my teens. And my infatuation with him may be one of the underlying factors which have influenced me to choose for the Populus Nigra Italica in some of my environmental and land art projects.

Of course it is the fact of the structured and mathematically placed trees, which along with their verticality attracts the observing eye. It prompted Claude Monet to paint them and even buy them for that purpose; my work follows mathematical rules, as well as the laws of nature. That is the drive for me to I incorporate them into my work and make my sculpture with the trees themselves, instead of only painting them."

Lucien den Arend

CITIES

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