Norbert Prangenberg
25 Jul - 13 Sep 2008
The exhibition focuses on an extensive selection of small format paintings, which appear in rich colourfulness. The different shades of colour are brought together tenderly and accumulate in recurrent geometrical figures. Characteristic is Prangenberg’s way of painting. In some of his works the application of the oil paint is very pastose, laps over the edge and forms a crust that is irregular ruptured with tiny cuts opening up the view on the canvas. In others Prangenberg uses copper or zinc instead of wooden plates, which let the metal of the agent shine through and therefore develop a very special translucent effect. What all paintings have in common is Prangenberg’s distinctive flow of paint-brush, leading the viewer’s eye over the so structured surface in order to follow the varied and unpredictable process of painting, “Painting is in the center of interest, free from any stylistic assignments.”
In addition to the paintings a group of smaller ceramics in maiolica technique, which Prangenberg produces since 2003, is on view. Freely modelled, those figures appear in concave and convex shaped forms, the surface of the rough clay graphically structured through fingerprints, incisions, holes and notches. Partly the opaque tin glaze of the fired ceramic is covered with the painting of the maiolica. Again the essential elements of Prangenberg’s repertoire are omnipresent: Simple geometric forms like the circle, square, trapezium, rhombus, oval as well as compositions reminding of mandorlas and halos. The maiolicas are considered as a bold sculptural development, because it is in the those pieces that the relationship between colour and form becomes intrinsic; through Prangenberg’s intensive dialogue with available media and materials, the three genres of drawing, painting and sculpture – long concurrent but independent – merge into one.
Norbert Prangenberg was born in 1949 in Rommerskirchen-Nettesheim. During his apprenticeship as gold- and silversmith with C. Kessler in Cologne he already produced his first woodcuts and drawings as well as sculptures from 1979 on. Since the 1980ies Prangenberg’s prints, sculptures, linocuts and drawings gained more and more recognition by being presented in many solo exhibitions in museums and Kunstvereinen. Prangenberg’s works can be found in both important public and private collections. Since 1993 Prangenberg holds a chair for ceramic and glass at the Kunstakademie Munich, he lives and works in Niederarnbach in the North of Munich.
For further information or requests regarding photographic material please contact Celia Fanselow at: galerie.greve@t-online.de
In addition to the paintings a group of smaller ceramics in maiolica technique, which Prangenberg produces since 2003, is on view. Freely modelled, those figures appear in concave and convex shaped forms, the surface of the rough clay graphically structured through fingerprints, incisions, holes and notches. Partly the opaque tin glaze of the fired ceramic is covered with the painting of the maiolica. Again the essential elements of Prangenberg’s repertoire are omnipresent: Simple geometric forms like the circle, square, trapezium, rhombus, oval as well as compositions reminding of mandorlas and halos. The maiolicas are considered as a bold sculptural development, because it is in the those pieces that the relationship between colour and form becomes intrinsic; through Prangenberg’s intensive dialogue with available media and materials, the three genres of drawing, painting and sculpture – long concurrent but independent – merge into one.
Norbert Prangenberg was born in 1949 in Rommerskirchen-Nettesheim. During his apprenticeship as gold- and silversmith with C. Kessler in Cologne he already produced his first woodcuts and drawings as well as sculptures from 1979 on. Since the 1980ies Prangenberg’s prints, sculptures, linocuts and drawings gained more and more recognition by being presented in many solo exhibitions in museums and Kunstvereinen. Prangenberg’s works can be found in both important public and private collections. Since 1993 Prangenberg holds a chair for ceramic and glass at the Kunstakademie Munich, he lives and works in Niederarnbach in the North of Munich.
For further information or requests regarding photographic material please contact Celia Fanselow at: galerie.greve@t-online.de