Man in a Lounger (Man in ligstoel)

About this artwork.

Hans Mes made the sculpture as part of the redevelopment plans for the Indian neighbourhood (Indische Buurt). For Man in a Lounger, the artist was inspired by the life of colonists in Batavia, in the former Dutch East Indies, as well as the presence of many drug addicts squatting in the neighbourhood while the renovations were being carried out. In turn, these two concepts have been unified in the sculpture. The similarity between the two, according to Mes, lies in the fact that the colonist siphons off the riches of the colony and drug addicts are predators of their own bodies – “the drug addict is a colonist of his own body”, according to the artist. 

 
The statue represents a man sitting in a lounger – a well-known pose on many Dutch verandas in the former colony. The morbid expression and the coin in his right hand are a reference to the “malevolent greed of colonists”. But you can just as easily see a drug addict in the man’s emaciated body.
 
Despite its creepy appearance, the figure has become a familiar face in the neighbourhood; children play on the statue and local residents provide it with a scarf and hat in the winter. Origrianal the statue was located on Bataviastraat, in 2017 the piece is given a new location along Floresvijver.

Facts & Figures.

• Design
  Hans Mes

• District
  Korrewegwijk & De Hoogte

• Year of creation
  1984

• Art type
  Freestanding sculpture

• Material
  Bronze

• Dimensions
  h 0,85 m