First of all, an explanation of the work title and artist name: herman de vries refuses to use capital letters...
Although Herman de Vries is no longer considered a minimalist, there is something minimalisticly fascinating about his spear, which stands guard at the old oak on the lakeside of the castle park, and where, by the way, a bridge extends into the water.
Completely simple, stubby and with the spear blade gilded with 24 carat gold leaf, the spear stands as a slender contrast to the large gnarled oak.
herman de vries' goal with his art – both in TICKON and elsewhere – is that art must never intervene and destroy nature. The spear is thus planted so that it does not damage the roots of the tree, because art in the landscape can only work if art and landscape unite. On the other hand, he says, "the more nature is interfered with, the more art is needed..."
Perhaps he means the non-natural urban space, which greatly needs art to be human-friendly?
Artist: herman de vries / See more of de vries' work here.
Year: 1996
herman de vries, born in the Netherlands in 1931, but since 1971 has lived in Germany, where his studio is a forest and his work a meadow, which has been traced back to its original flora. As a young man he first learned horticulture and was a farm labourer. Then the wind collection went over botany, until in the 60s he became an artist. From abstract and minimalist art, he moved beyond the conceptual with happenings (e.g. was arrested during a happening at Charlottenborg during the exhibition 'Young Danish Art' in 1969.