LON PENNOCK

Pennock (The Hague 1945-2020) is, in a word, an essential sculptor. In his work, the classical principles of making a sculpture converge with fundamental contents of modern art. The making of a sculpture is essentially about stacking, balance, mass, materiality and expression. Modern art seeks expression of universal content, not bounded by time, culture or ethnicity.
After a thorough classical education at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (1962-1967), he went on scholarship to the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1968) where he worked with Zadkine. He then turned to abstract art. His work fits well into the tradition of minimal art and constructivist art. Well-known contemporaries of his are André Volten and Joost Baljeu.
In his sculptures, Pennock explores the fragile balance of geometric volumes, gravity, balance and the logic of perception: do you understand what you see?
Repetition, materiality, skin, mass and balance are elements of his visual language with which he plays. This is also found in his later screen prints. Attractive freehand drawn geometric shapes have primary colors and black; they seek balance in two-dimensional space.

Lon Pennock was deputy director and director of the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam fromn1979 to 1990. After that he was, among other things, advisor art in public space to the Chief Government Architect.
Large sculptures in public space by Pennock can be found in The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam, among others.