Artists

Gosse Dam

Gosse Dam makes monumental sculptures for the public space on commission and is also building an oeuvre of bronze sculptures in which the torso takes the center stage. His commissioned work is figurative, but his free work, although derived from the recognizable female form, is rather abstract. Gosse Dam expresses himself clearly both verbally and in bronze. Seemingly effortless he can interpret his own work. Perhaps a factor in this is that, as a teacher, he was used to questioning his students. The fact that he studied philosophy for several years has undoubtedly influenced his way of thinking. But although he says he is more than halfway through his career as a sculptor, it has taken him many years to 'get everything straight'.

 

Gosse Dam calls himself a classical sculptor, not so much in the sense that he follows fixed rules as that he has a certain attitude. His teachers at the Minerva Academy, Johan Sterenberg and Jentsje Popma, are trained in the tradition as taught at the Rijksacademie for centuries. The 'classic' in his sculpture refers to his use of materials, the obvious knowledge and skill of the craft and of course to his theme, the torso. When we see the images of Gosse Dam, we think more of Maillol than of Rodin and when we carefully tap the bronze of Torso XIX, the work of Brancusi quietly echoes. If he himself has to characterize his work, Gosse refers to his work as 'silenced abstraction'.

 

The bronze torsos are without exception polished and, despite their modest dimensions of between 15 and 40 centimetres, have a monumental appearance. A seductive line is accompanied by a perfect finish that embodies an abstract emotion. The names they bear, Torso I, Torso II, Torso III and so on, reflect a formal, rational approach. Gosse Dam is not looking for emotion with a story, but for aesthetic emotion, beauty. “My free work has no message, no purpose and no use, it is pure l'art pour l'art. According to some, the extreme aesthetic ideal, where an image is ultimately 'just beautiful', is the most detested art.” Gosse Dam has an affinity with the aesthetic movement from the last half of the nineteenth century, in which the pursuit of beauty is the ideal.

Collection

Torso 1

Torso 1

1980, brons 40 cm

Torso Corrie

Torso Corrie

2010, brons 29 cm

Torso Arabesque

Torso Arabesque

2013, brons 21 cm