'Untitled', Dordrecht Regional Employment Office, 1985
The opposites open and closed, geometry and nature, rough and smooth are brought together in this image.
Frans de Wit was commissioned to create a statue for the Regional Employment Office in Dordrecht, during his work on the ‘Caland Canal Windscreen’ project (1983-1985). The sculpture was created by hollowing-out three tree trunks and casting them in bronze, each balanced upon the other on the tip of a large steel rectangular beam. Here, a unity of opposite work: open – closed; geometry – nature; rough – smooth. A first time achievement for De Wit hollowing out tree trunks. Friend fellow artist Fer Hakkaart, captured one of De Wit’s idiosyncrasies, brushing the base of his sculptures. He was always equipped with a broom in the back of his car to clear the area around his work.
The building that housed the employment office has now been sold and the current owner has had the statue removed, much to the consternation of connoisseurs of De Wit's work. The statue ended up in the scrap heap. It was literally saved by Bert Gort from Dordrecht and has since been restored and placed in a private collection.