X-ing the Air

About this artwork.

Please note: During the work for the southern ring road, this work will be stored in the municipal art storage facility.
 
X-ing the Air consists of an abstract bronze sculpture placed on a polished stainless steel structure and a red painted metal tube.
 
Regarding the title Kie Ellens says: “When you see the sign ‘School X-ing’ in America, you are not in a Chinese neighbourhood: you are standing in front of a zebra crossing. In this case, language is therefore used in a simple way, literally and figuratively. X stands for cross; therefore an X-ing is a crossing. This dual character, bridging the space and establishing the crosswalk, also determined the form of this sculpture.”
 
The bronze statue features a cross and bridges the space between the other two parts.
 
The sculpture expresses an idiosyncratic composition of forms, materials and meanings. Ellens has made more of these kinds of sculptures.  She combines materials that seem to have nothing to do with each other into spatial compositions. Different forms lean against each other, circle around each other or contradict each other. The artist often seems to want to defy gravity by having a dense, solid shape supported by an open structure. In the case of X-ing the Air, the gravitational challenge lies mainly in the bronze statue simply resting on the upper edge of the stainless steel structure.
 
Ellens himself took the initiative to create the sculpture, because he felt that the Oosterpoort neighbourhood, where he lives, could still use it. He received financial support for this from the province. The artist chose a piece of unused land on Esperantostraat as his location.

Facts & Figures.

• Design
  Kie Ellens

• District
  Oosterpoort & Europapark

• Year of creation
  1986

• Art type
  Freestanding sculpture

• Material
  Bronze, Stainless steel, Steel, Paint

• Dimensions
  h 2,25 x b 2,60 x d 1,05 m