Marian Kievits (1944-2006) brings headstrong and endearing characters to life in her sculptures. Her bronze human figures share an indestructible insouciance; they are completely absorbed in what they are doing. Humor is omnipresent in this artist's work.
Kievits herself feels the freedom her characters exude in her use of materials. She considers herself a true "form person." Clay is the perfect medium for her expression because it is sculptural. Where a painter must always start from a blank surface, clay can be manipulated without a second thought.
The artist allows the figures to move so freely and their actions are so expressive that it almost makes you forget they are cast in bronze. Each one is concerned with survival, but in a humorous way. For example, there is the swimmer struggling to dive into the wave, and there are the gossiping women whom no one can interfere with.
In her images, survival power is combined with the joy of life, and it is the humorous way in which Kievits manages to portray these existential themes that makes her images so unique.
