Dirk Zoete's stylized human figures are composed of geometric shapes, touching and playful in their utmost simplicity. They seem to be distant cousins of Malevich's suprematist figures or the costumes from Oskar Schlemmer's Triadic Ballet.
Dirk Zoete first makes a cardboard version of the sculptures that is then transferred to metal and then painted in such a way that the sketchiness of the paper model is preserved. The contours of the faces are first scraped out into a block of clay onto which plasticrete, a type of arcylic resin, is poured so that the positive shape of the face emerges.
The Gardener appears to float on crescent-shaped blades. The geometric body parts form a harmonious unit, reinforced not least by the earthy tones that correspond to the title of the work. The hunched back as a reminiscent of a person's body scarred by intensive, hard labour in the field or garden.