The artist describes her second sculpture for the collection as a shy work even though it evokes the incisive, exciting and provocative character of the tango; because its two abstract dancers barely touch. More than this, its shyness rests on the way the weather and surrounding landscape penetrate the open linear form to purposefully make it visually disorienting from many view-points.
Coated in a hardy pearlescent paint which is a subtle reference to the pearl shells that can be found in the Kaipara Harbour, the colours of de Goey’s work shift surprisingly in the changing light and atmosphere: slightly bluish in the morning, yellow in the afternoon, and pink or red in the evening.
Marijke de Goey was born in Utrecht, The Netherlands in 1947 and studied at the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam. Her work spans a wide range of settings and forms including bridges, trains, squares, poetry and jewellery.
In 1985 she received the Art Award of the City of Gouda; in 1986 the Francoise van den Bosch Award from the Boijmans-van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, in 2001 she was honoured with the Royal Degree Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion; and in 2002 received the 1st Art Price at the 13th Biennale Poland.
De Goey’s permanent sculptural projects include Butterfly Orbit (1998), Mermaid Bridge New Zealand (1999), Dragonfly Orbit (2000) Graz, Austria; The Alchemist (2007), Delft University of Technology; Stalagmite sculpture (2007), Aegon (2008), Budapest, Hungary; and Vertigo3 (2008), Technical Pavilions, Hellevoetsluis and in 2008 Microcompacthouse, Moma Museum New York.