Norbert Prangenberg
09 Sep - 14 Oct 2006
NORBERT PRANGENBERG
"Sculptures, paintings and drawings"
From September 9th to October 14th, 2006
Opening Saturday, Sept. 9 from 2-9 pm
Ceramic sculpture has today fully entered the vocabulary of contemporary art and has taken centre stage in different exhibitions as in Counterpoint II at the Louvre Museum in 2006. For Norbert Prangenberg ceramic sculpture, which he has been engaged with since the 1980’s, co-exists with his paintings and drawings, creating a corpus whose parts remain autonomous.
Produced between 1998 and 2005 at the European Ceramic Centre of Holland (Hertogenbosch) and in the Ceramic Studio Niels Dietrich in Cologne, the sculptures presented at the gallery have nothing in common with precious porcelain generally associated with “ceramics” or even less so with “faience”. These oversized amphorae remind us of traditional pottery by their form and handcrafted technique, but are freed from any utilitarian function. If the contours of the earlier works are generally regular, the forms of the new sculptures tend to be less defined with rougher surfaces. Whether they are all one colour (white, cream or brown) ornated or spattered with the colours of paint, these pieces neither aspire to an extreme precision nor try to mask the process of their fabrication. The faïence pieces however (fired earthenware covered with an opaque glaze) allow the artist to paint with mastery over the form, which cannot be done with any other ceramic techniques. The various steps of shaping, embellishing and glazing of these monolithic sculptures, which are at times perforated, or made up of mounting coils, are all done before the firing.
One might think of imaginary archaeological vestiges, where the sculptures are similar to a hybrid organism in which parasites are incorporated and develop: little modelled waves, fragments of faïence or flowers in the shape of trumpets. Norbert Prangenberg deliberately entitles his sculptures “Figure” thus confirming their analogy to nature.
A selection of recent paintings and drawings completes the exhibition. Over the past few years, Norbert Prangenberg has started to paint and draw on large formats, giving an entirely new dimension to his work. Without being directly inspired by nature, the spontaneously sketched drawings, which are done out of doors, translate the sensations and perceptions felt in the face of nature.
The paintings of 2005 and 2006, realized during a trip to South Africa and in his studio near Munich, also follow an intuitive process. The geometric shapes and “colour spaces” roughed out from the observation of nature, comprise a repertory of poetic forms.
Norbert Prangenberg lives and works in Brunnen and in Munich. He teaches at the Fine Arts Academy of Munich.
For further information, please contact Eloïse Guénard at the gallery: eloiseguenard@karstengreve.fr
© Norbert Prangenberg
"Hermann"
2006
Mixed Media
h: 120 x w: 130 cm / h: 47.2 x w: 51.2 in
"Sculptures, paintings and drawings"
From September 9th to October 14th, 2006
Opening Saturday, Sept. 9 from 2-9 pm
Ceramic sculpture has today fully entered the vocabulary of contemporary art and has taken centre stage in different exhibitions as in Counterpoint II at the Louvre Museum in 2006. For Norbert Prangenberg ceramic sculpture, which he has been engaged with since the 1980’s, co-exists with his paintings and drawings, creating a corpus whose parts remain autonomous.
Produced between 1998 and 2005 at the European Ceramic Centre of Holland (Hertogenbosch) and in the Ceramic Studio Niels Dietrich in Cologne, the sculptures presented at the gallery have nothing in common with precious porcelain generally associated with “ceramics” or even less so with “faience”. These oversized amphorae remind us of traditional pottery by their form and handcrafted technique, but are freed from any utilitarian function. If the contours of the earlier works are generally regular, the forms of the new sculptures tend to be less defined with rougher surfaces. Whether they are all one colour (white, cream or brown) ornated or spattered with the colours of paint, these pieces neither aspire to an extreme precision nor try to mask the process of their fabrication. The faïence pieces however (fired earthenware covered with an opaque glaze) allow the artist to paint with mastery over the form, which cannot be done with any other ceramic techniques. The various steps of shaping, embellishing and glazing of these monolithic sculptures, which are at times perforated, or made up of mounting coils, are all done before the firing.
One might think of imaginary archaeological vestiges, where the sculptures are similar to a hybrid organism in which parasites are incorporated and develop: little modelled waves, fragments of faïence or flowers in the shape of trumpets. Norbert Prangenberg deliberately entitles his sculptures “Figure” thus confirming their analogy to nature.
A selection of recent paintings and drawings completes the exhibition. Over the past few years, Norbert Prangenberg has started to paint and draw on large formats, giving an entirely new dimension to his work. Without being directly inspired by nature, the spontaneously sketched drawings, which are done out of doors, translate the sensations and perceptions felt in the face of nature.
The paintings of 2005 and 2006, realized during a trip to South Africa and in his studio near Munich, also follow an intuitive process. The geometric shapes and “colour spaces” roughed out from the observation of nature, comprise a repertory of poetic forms.
Norbert Prangenberg lives and works in Brunnen and in Munich. He teaches at the Fine Arts Academy of Munich.
For further information, please contact Eloïse Guénard at the gallery: eloiseguenard@karstengreve.fr
© Norbert Prangenberg
"Hermann"
2006
Mixed Media
h: 120 x w: 130 cm / h: 47.2 x w: 51.2 in