"Thinker" Sculpture

André van der Linden (1945 Amsterdam).
André studied for some time at the Rijksacademie in Amsterdam, but is self-taught as a sculptor. He has been working as a sculptor since 1967 and settled as such in Friesland in 1972.

Until 1978 André mainly worked in wood, which was sometimes painted in primary colours.
Subsequently, a combination of materials was often used. At first wood was combined with stone, until the wood faded into the background and stone sculptures appeared, sometimes in combination with ferrocement.

Working with ferrocement, the core of which is an iron construction, eventually led to the fact that the cement was omitted and the stone statue was combined with stainless steel. The white of the steel did not always combine with the idea to be executed, so that the dark bronze was added as a new option.
Gradually, the stones disappeared from the statues and there are now combinations of steel and bronze, where glass is often a colorful addition.

Over the course of 55 years, there has also been a change in starting points. Initially, images appeared with a mainly inner strength, later a transition was made to a much more sober visual language and in the following period we now see greater expressiveness again, in which what moves and sets the individual in motion is a recurring starting point. .
A further abstraction of these moving figures offers the viewer freedom of interpretation.

In the words of Huub Mous:
Nothing is as obvious on closer inspection as it seems at first. This certainly also applies to the images of André van der Linden. The artist who lives and works in Friesland has built up an impressive track record. Many of his sculptures have been given a permanent place in public space.
André van der Linden's work invites reflection. Although the artist derives formal starting points from geometry and stereometry, his images escape cool calculation and law. Additions that seem incongruous at first glance act as counterpoints to constructivist elements. The images derive their visual tension from this duality. During the process of combining and assembling, shaping and deforming, the artist works with contrasts. He gives shape to processes of change, to cycles that determine the natural course of events and to human power and inability to influence them.