Stijn Ank’s oeuvre displays an extensive research into the relationship between substance and void as well as the different ways in which contemporary sculpture relates to its surroundings.
The production basis for each piece is a mould made out of a variety of materials such as wood, aluminium, lead, rubber, glass or plastic. This mould defines the spatial boundaries. The residual space is marked and filled with (pigmented) plaster. Once it sets, we have the final appearance of the piece. The result is simultaneously fragile and robust, sensitive and solid, light as a feather and heavy as lead.
As such, the pieces are 'positions' or 'subjects' that arise from its surroundings rather than being sculpted in the surroundings. The sculptures do not reflect the reality around nor are they about the actual objects. They are defined by the relationship with the viewer and the surroundings and are therefore continuously changing.
Endless Column 08.2014 was selected specifically for Cwart and is a transposition from plaster to bronze. The piece gives direction and is the leading subject for the future of this art platform.
Within the world of sculptural art the column raises an original question - the answer to which has been a quest for many an artist. With its vertical position, the column shows a willingness to create the connection between earth and sky. This is the reason that the column is majestic, formal, straight and alive such as our own bodies.
This piece offers a different perspective to the historical relevance of the column. It emphasises the wilful role of matter and mould to the process of creation. In this case, the mould is made of stacked sand bags. Thanks to the perpendicular stacking of the bags of sand, a vertical work arises. Through its weight, the work adopts a form of its own. The matter found its way in the mould, which gravity itself formed.
In this sense, the column contains not only the movement of the material but also the dynamic logics of gravity itself. This column is a pure sculpture, even more so than a chiselled sculpture considering the matter itself went to work without interference from the artist. The negative space from which the work arises confirm its surroundings.
Endless Column 08.2014 portrays the essential dynamics of life just as the other pieces do. It raises those questions that we should be asking ourselves when taking a position within our surrounding space and life.