Telling No Lies was made especially for the exhibition In the Park at Middelheim. Acutely aware of the charged context of this large bronze sculpture, Henk Visch designed an ambiguous form that related both to other sculptures and to the park. They are temporary beacons in a landscape of recognition and amazement. During the installation of his exhibitions, Visch attaches a great deal of importance to how the sculptures are arranged and the potential relationships between them, and between the works and their surroundings. The piece It’ll All Look Different Tomorrow (1993–96), for instance, was moved to a different spot every day of his exhibition at Middelheim. This deft use of forms and their meanings perhaps originates from Visch’s roots as a draughtsman and printmaker.

When he began to make sculpture in 1980 it followed his drawings, but perhaps also the zeitgeist. His interest in anthropomorphic figuration, the use of colour and his choice of ‘traditional’ materials like wood and bronze tied in with the postmodern climate.

When he began to make sculptures in 1980 they followed his drawings, but perhaps also the zeitgeist. His interest in anthropomorphic figuration, the use of colour and his choice of ‘traditional’ materials like wood and bronze tied in with the postmodern climate.

‘My work looks like a stump, a piece of old, rotting tree’, says Visch, ‘You can clearly see that the sculpture is built up using building blocks, like the museum buildings around it.’ The result is a visual pitfall. The almost amorphous object forms a reservoir of associations. Simultaneously a plinth and a goblet, a trunk and a fungus, it seems to have both grown and been cast. In contrast to a number of more classical bronzes, the surface of Telling No Lies is rough and unfinished. In this way the sculpture refers explicitly to its origins and retains the schematic quality of a drawing or sketch.

Source: Middelheim Museum