Tom Claassen

Dutch artist Tom Claassen (1964) is best known for the sculptural pieces he’s created for public space. Almost everyone in the Netherlands is familiar with the family of elephants grazing alongside the A6 motorway near Almere and with three giant rabbits at Rotterdam’s Kunsthal. And how many travellers have stopped to admire two larger-than-life figures seated on the floor at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol?
In addition to Claassen’s major commissions for public space, this unique compilation of the artist’s versatile oeuvre includes self-initiated projects as well. It is these works, in particular – pieces less apt to evoke the tender feelings that emerge at the sight of his animal sculptures – that illustrate the extent of Claassen’s passion for form and space, and his keenly intelligent treatment of both.
Often straddling the interface of culture and nature, Claassen’s work is firmly rooted in sculptural tradition, to which he gives an original, playful and idiosyncratic twist.
This publication offers the first overview of Claassen’s multifaceted oeuvre and addresses the question of art in a changing public context.
Sculptures by Tom Claassen are to be found in various collections, including Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo, Utrecht’s Centraal Museum, Museum Beelden aan Zee in Scheveningen and the Gateway Foundation, St. Louis, USA.