Who Is Jacques Overhoff?
Overhoff demonstrating his playful spirit climbing his 32 ton Universal Vertebrae sculpture at its public unveiling in July 1965. Downtown Los Angeles - Wilshire Metropolitan Medical Center.
JACQUES OVERHOFF | Dutch/American | 1933 - 2024 An artist, architect, sculptor, innovator, designer and educator.
UPSIDE DOWN THINKING is at the core of Overhoff’s artistic drive as an ‘intuitive engineer’ equipped with all the professional tools and techniques, yet always thinking outside the box. Overhoff’s innovative visions are driven by his passionate and energetic creative spirit.
Overhoff’s monumental architectural works have been commissioned since the 1960s, all of which were heavily inspired by the San Francisco West Coast Jazz era. Overhoff’s works still stand in visible and significant locations in major cities around the world.
An international traveler and globe-trotter, Overhoff was born into a generational family of journalists and engineers from Amsterdam. In the late 50’s, he came to the United States to live in San Francisco, California. During the 50’s and 90’s, Overhoff created and installed several of his most iconic public artworks throughout the Bay Area.
As an educator, during the 90s to 2000s Overhoff taught mechanical engineering and architectural design inspiring thousands of university students across the Netherlands and Germany.
In 2024, together with his daughter, Serena Overhoff, Jacques - still young at heart in his ninth decade - enthusiastically launched The Jacques Overhoff Foundation dedicated to award annual grants to emerging artists creating public artworks in the State of California.
A main focus of the Foundation’s mission is to support imaginative public spaces designed to engage and celebrate communities.
In 1983, Overhoff completed the design and implementation of ‘Torque’ at the Auto Plaza in Richmond, California. At the time, Torque was the first large scale public sculpture totally conceived by Overhoff in Metrics from concept to its permanent installation. Torque, at 240 tons, was the largest concrete sculpture erected on the West Coast.
Torque was unveiled as part of the 12th International Sculpture Conference with over 3,000 sculptors worldwide in attendance with the support of Standard Oil, Chevron Land & Development Company and Richmond Art Center. Overhoff’s Torque received a national award from The Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute in Chicago, IL.
Torque endures as a visual beacon for Richmond’s Auto Plaza. This sculpture reflects Overhoff’s commitment to design and community.
THE OVERHOFF OBJECTIVES (in his own words):
COMMITMENT to socially significant goals
INVOLVEMENT with a project team right from the start
DEDICATION to durability with clay | brick | concrete | bronze
IMAGINATION requires originality of environmental design
FUNCTIONALITY of ART to serve the COMMUNITY
SENSITIVITY to site-specific scale, significance and longevity
Overhoff’s installation of public artwork, ‘is to do everything by hand.’ Photographed in 1979 at the Oregon State University Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in Corvallis, Oregon.
