Claus Scheele

Claus Jürgen Hermann Scheele

Claus Jürgen Hermann Scheele (born September 21, 1943 in Bad Homburg in front of the height ) is a German architecture - sculptor and object artist as well as a founding member of the Federal Association of Visual Artists Bavaria (BBK).

His oeuvre includes ceramics, drawings, sculptures, series of images, architecture objects and designed industrial objects for public spaces. He sees his work as a socially critical counter-model to today's profane architecture and only uses standardized, industrially mass-produced material for his works of art.

Life

Origin, childhood and education

Claus Jürgen Hermann Scheele is the only child of the Berlin painter and wood cutter Kurt Scheele and Friedel Faeth, daughter of the stone sculptor Carl Faeth. Since his father did not return from Soviet captivity, he grew up as a half-orphan in Fechenbach (today Collenberg ) am Main with his mother. He last came to boarding schools in early childhood, made possible by a scholarship, to the Werkschule Schloss Craheim , where he graduated from secondary school in 1959.

Between 1959 and 1965, Claus Scheele completed his training as a carpenter and ceramist at the Landshut Ceramic School. At the same time he volunteered as a stone sculptor and stonemason and in 1964 became a freelance sculptor and artist. During this time he met his future wife, the potter Ulrike Lerche from Rheinbach am Neckar, with whom he founded a pottery in Kirschfurt am Main (today Collenberg ) after their marriage in 1964 . The two children Frank and Eva emerged from the marriage. In 1969 the couple divorced.

Live and act

Scheele initially took over Jörg Scherkamp's old studio space in Augsburg, but two years later he distanced himself from the Augsburg art scene around Scherkamp, ​​retired to Miltenberg for half a year and returned to Augsburg in 1973 with new artistic visions. During this creative period he fixed his work on the straight line as the only means of expression.

After Scheele gained greater fame in 1980/1981 with his "Architecture Games", he moved to a new studio in the former boiler house of Riedinger Jersey in 1982. In 2008, as part of a conversion of the building, he lost his studio and a large number of his works that did not survive moving out. He responded with a series of works he called "Aggressive Age".

The creation

The ceramics (1964–1969)

Inspired by the work of his father and his father's artist figures such as Pablo Picasso (ceramics), Henry Moore and Hans Arp , Claus Scheele began his artistic career with small ceramic sculptures and building ceramics. Even if the early work is articulated as erratic, inconsistent and strongly shaped by the models, this phase shows Scheele's development from a figurative to an abstract artist. At the invitation of the painter Lothar Malskat from Lübeck , Scheele exhibited his ceramics at Malskats exhibitions as a sculptural component. Triggered by the death of the mother, who had strongly influenced her son in the direction of the artisanal artistic conventions, this phase ended abruptly. Free of these maternal guidelines, Claus Scheele completely reoriented himself, gave up his ceramic workshop “Haus Javona” and, in a final break with his past, moved to Augsburg in 1970 in the artist scene around the artists Jörg Scherkamp, ​​Urban Ehm and Hans Heichele. In this initial phase, in addition to countless everyday ceramics, around 100 unique items were created, signed with a stamp.

The plexiglass sculptures (1969–1972)

As early as 1969, Scheele turned against the searching, modeling, artistic form of expression, which he increasingly perceived as a familiar, conventional corset. The constructive purity of a clear geometric or architectural language of form became the central field of experimentation that shapes his life's work to this day. Scheele came to the conclusion that it is not the musical arts such as music or painting, but architecture, beyond all artistic influence, that is the greatest and most lasting cultural heritage of humanity. With this thesis, Scheele set himself apart from contemporary art production with leading figures such as Joseph Beuys. As a sign of his newly gained artistic freedom "in the compulsion of geometry" he now numbers his works and starts again with work number 1 (WNr).

For Scheele, the Weimar and Dessau Bauhaus Schools represent the greatest artistic and cultural achievement of the modern era. Scheele counts the American architect Buckminster Fuller among the outstanding artistic figures of the modern era. This way of thinking is reflected in his works, which are reminiscent of the architecture of high-rise buildings. The mostly vertical rows form the discovered canon of forms. Slight rotations of the individual serial form elements create constructive, but dynamically elegant overall compositions. The solo exhibition at the European Academy in Berlin in 1973 exemplifies this development for the only time.

The sculptures based on the square rod (1972–1978)

For Claus Scheele, 1972/1973 was a time of upheaval. He mistrusted his own design language. He did not see enough exemplary possibilities in the "skyscraper forms" of his Plexiglas sculptures. Since he saw himself a long way from his idol Buckminster Fuller , he radicalized his overall geometric approach to the square bar once again. As a result, a number of optically light, floating objects were created, which he grouped together under the heading "Canopies".

Scheele believed that by using the square profile, the constructive straight line was the only permissible construction element. The remaining square cross-section, however, enabled free angles to be formed by dividing the element, creating the shape of the object on both sides from the undivided middle section. In the period that followed, Scheele produced sculptures reminiscent of architectural models, which make the underlying architectural demands of the artist visible. During this phase, Scheele's work changed from the initial formal language, reminiscent of high-rise facades, to roof-like or spiral, tower-like works.

The phase of reorientation (1978–1979)

In 1978 Claus Scheele visited the Art Basel art fair and came across the work of the Spanish artist Andreu Alfaro . Despite the recognizable differences between the works, the comparability of the works of art in the approach, the ranking of industrial profiles, was too great for Scheele. Deeply frustrated, with the feeling of being robbed of the originality of his previous artistic work, Claus Scheele returned from Switzerland and gave his work a new direction. As an intermezzo, Claus Scheele dealt with the search for a new language of forms and materials in the following years. To do this, the artist divided square rods made of different materials such as plexiglass, metals and wood into granular structures and created new shapes from them. In this phase graceful sculptures with a hard architectural character were created, which thematize the interplay of light and play of colors, lightness and the metamorphosis of form.

The trigger for his later main work was an action in 1979, the action “Artist leaves ivory tower”. As part of this action, the art, symbolized by a woman, was surrounded by pieces of roof battens of equal length in order to forcibly break free from this prison. As part of this conception, Scheele recognized that an infinite number of self-supporting architectural forms can be created from the same dimensioned building elements - and this without the aid of any technical connection.

The second basic building system, gravity architecture (1980 ff.)

As part of the examination of architectural forms based on uniform, equally dimensioned building elements, Scheele put forward the following theses for the basic building systems of modern times:

• Modernity differs from all previous epochs in that it is possible to manufacture technical products, such as metal profile bars or tubes, in an economically efficient manner through mechanical mass production in a homogeneous and reliable quality.
• Basic building systems of the modern age are based on the property of producing buildings entirely and with great architectural and design freedom from a single, industrially manufactured and equally dimensioned building element.
• In spite of all the restrictions, basic construction systems must be able to create sensible and aesthetically sophisticated architectural spaces.
• Basic construction systems are not based on technical processes, but solely on the ability to line up industrially manufactured components in series.

Scheele attributes the abovementioned abilities exclusively to Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes. As a consequence, he calls its system the first basic building system of the modern age. At the same time, Scheele asserted that with the geodesic domes only the first basic building system of modernity was discovered - but there are other basic building systems that have yet to be discovered. Scheele understood his definition of the basic building systems as an alternative to modern architecture, which enables high-quality, individual architecture with strong character only to economically privileged sections of the population and banishes the majority to carelessly standardized mass architecture. In Scheele's view, however, the design freedoms of industrial mass production are misunderstood - among other things because our time is increasingly concerned with new technical processes for realizing individual static problems or architectural designs, but at the same time it neglects the core ability of our time, industrial mass production to implement in meaningful building systems that, apart from the metric norm, enable affordable and at the same time human-friendly architectural forms.

Scheele is convinced that he has found such a basic building system with “gravity architecture”, in which free but statically load-bearing architectural forms are created from serially stacked, uniformly shaped rectangular bars. After Scheele had almost ruined himself financially in order to prove that these connection-free architectures can also be statically represented on a large scale, the breakthrough came in 1980 with the invitation to the artists' playground at the Federal Garden Show in Kassel in 1981. With the participation of the audience, Scheele realized backdrop-like architecture with construction heights of up to 15 meters under the title “Natureinprüfung”. Interpreted (incorrectly) as modern action art by those responsible for culture, numerous invitations to cultural events in public spaces followed:

• 1982 in Augsburg the homage to the master builder Elias Holl under the title “The Towers of Elias” and the “architectural interference” with the first dome in Kiel held only by gravity.
• 1983 the domed structures the "Spherical Discontinuum" at the International Horticultural Exhibition (IGA) in Munich and the "Exot Futur" in Hamburg , the last game in his research series, in order to obtain the necessary evidence for the static predictability of the layered domes.
• 1988 "Opus Mixtum"
• 1992 “Opus Mixtum 2” and “Kamikaze” in Augsburg. With "Opus Mixtum 3" in Bad Wörishofen , Scheele realized towers over 17 meters high for the first time on the basis of gravity architecture.
• In 1996, “Opus Mixtum 4” was erected in Weimar, the largest accessible structure ever created in this architectural form, with a diameter of 9 meters and a height of 15 meters.

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  "The Towers", Claus Scheele, 1982

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  "Exot Futur", Claus Scheele, 1983

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  "Spherical Discontinuum", Claus Scheele, 1983

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  "Opus Mixtum", Claus Scheele, 1988

With the further development of the architecture game "Opus Mixtum" (mixed work), a new kind of artistic product and means of expression should be developed according to the artist's wishes. Towards action art and - according to Scheele's will - towards instruction. "Opus Mixtum" will be played for the first time at the spontaneous Sunday artist festival in front of the Kunsthalle in Augsburg - as part of a protesting artist community (PAK, Problemkreis Augsburger Künstler) who are calling for the establishment of a peace park with a sculpture garden in the city. In the dome by Scheele, which was erected with willing spectators, singing lectures and recitations were performed and pyrotechnic smoke signals were sent to the Bavarian minister of culture in vain. Opus Mixtum 2 and Kamikaze are intended for all freelance artists with an artistic action insert - with the planned destructive motorcycle ride by Police Master Michael Böhm through the closed yellow dome. Opus Mixtum 3, “The Challenge”, aimed to playfully absorb the desire for ever new senseless records in order to build up a series of media-friendly events. Towers up to a height of 35 meters are possible. A folk festival structure was built around the game “The Challenge”. Opus Mixtum 4 with architecture students from the Bauhaus University in Weimar produced the largest free-standing structure with a height of 15 meters. The art games should become an architecture show. A first order came from Armin Fuchs from the Hamburg cultural authority about the firestorm in Hamburg. The architecture show “The Great Fire”, a new full-length action art game format, was developed and an elaborate action book, similar to a score, was created. However, while hiking in the mountains, Armin Fuchs falls to his death and the project dies with him.

As part of the “Eisendom” project in Duisburg , Scheele and Prof. Friedrich Wilhelm Zoller designed a monumental dome with a diameter of 42 meters and a height of 32 meters. As a reminder of the steel mills in the Ruhr area, the gravity dome was to be built permanently on the banks of the Rhine using stacked pieces of railroad tracks. With almost the same dome dimensions as the Pantheon , the “Iron Dome” was planned as a manifesto for the load-bearing capacity of gravity architecture as an independent construction principle. In order to increase the stability of the dome, a mass weighing several tons should be hung in the dome light, which would exert the necessary pre-tension on the dome shell. Scheele constructed the low-hanging weight as a non- oscillating ball in the typical Buckminster Fuller triangular construction with a reflective outer skin, which was supposed to float over the central stairwell of the same diameter of the cathedral.

However, due to Scheele's political clumsiness and uncompromising attitude and the resulting dissonances between the artist and the political decision-makers in Duisburg, the project was discarded shortly before implementation.

The largest project in Scheele's gravity architecture to date was the "Exot Futur" in Hamburg. The span of the cantilever dome, designed as a 24-cornered structure, was fifteen meters and was a 1: 3 scale model of the iron dome in wood.

The handlebar (1988, ff)

Scheele's search for forms, to develop the square rod into new architectural design contexts created through series, remained fruitless for a long time. For an upcoming free competition task, Claus Scheele would like to focus on the creative people who travel through time. Scheele combines the archaic form of the barque with a sun symbol as a metaphor for working people. In order to create a dynamic, very three-dimensional sculpture pointing in one direction, he would like to connect the disc to the barque via a multitude of straight lines. In order to give structure to this idea, he joins the barque from individually glued square timbers to form a fork-shaped arch segment. Since he has the feeling that the resulting object is not recognized by the audience as what was thought, he replaces the circular disc in later works, which is atypical for him, with the figurative depiction of an androgynous person. The “Lenker”, Scheele's most commercially successful work series, was born. (WNr. 152) In Scheele's work, however, the fork arch of the handlebars deformed and condensed into independent architectures, his second basic construction system (according to the artist's method of counting, the third foundation construction system of the modern era, since it counts Buckminster Fuller's geodesic domes as number one).

The Third Basic System, Against Gravity (1989 ff)

As part of the development of the "handlebar", Scheele formed circular segments from identical elements. As part of this work, he was amazed at the static load-bearing capacity of the resulting forms. In order to scientifically substantiate this subjective impression, Scheele began to investigate the static properties of the construction as an architectural element in collaboration with Prof. Friedrich Wilhelm Zoller and the University of Civil Engineering in Regensburg. After the functional proof as a load-bearing building element was provided, Scheele began to develop sculptures, dome shapes and building envelopes on the basis of this building system.

The basic element is a fork made of long parallelepiped blocks of equal dimensions. With the spatially curved forks, any polygonal construction up to 24-sided can be realized. The resulting shapes depend on the number of rectangular profiles processed in the forks. In connection with this work, Claus Scheele refrains from naming models for the first time, as he is increasingly convinced that with the basic building systems, conceptually completely autonomous, breaking new ground.

The first domes of this system were realized in 1989 as a “love dome” at the BUGA Federal Garden Show in Frankfurt am Main. In the years that followed, Scheele developed different versions of the system, which model the most diverse forms and applications of the system. From sculptures to spiers to designs for houses and villas. In 2002, Scheele designed a modular architectural kit under the title “Desired Garden Dome”, with which everyone can design their own desired dome based on the fork element. Theoretically, 120 dome variants can be derived from the modular system. At the same time, however, Scheele's demands on architecture, in the honest and continuing sense of the Bauhaus school - with the aim of combining art with everyday, purpose-related and useful objects - outside of the usual conventions of the art and architecture industry.

Parallel work

Vertebral bodies

For a fountain design, Scheele designed a shape of equal length placed in the circle, which he called "vertebral bodies". He liked this design so much that he experimented with it and developed it into a residential building. This in turn became the Bad Wörishofener "Aust-Brunnen".

While studying Bauhaus school publications, Scheele found an exercise from 1928 on his subject of vertebral bodies with the geometric designation "rotationally symmetrical paraboloid". This discovery spurred him on to pursue his vertebral body approach and to develop an independent group of works. Based on this formal language, the artist created designs for fountains, towers and pavilions.

Wire sculptures

Scheele cynically calls his new creation “Aggressive with age” because they move trembling (ego). This development is also based on the new architecture. Scheele observes that metropolitan architecture uses more and more glass in the views. This makes the building envelope appear lighter, almost floating when it is illuminated at night. When adding works of art to the monolithic design, it seems appropriate to offer an optically even lighter-looking design system. Technical spring steel offers the possibility of finding a completely new design approach in terms of craftsmanship and design. From a technical point of view, spring steel cannot be permanently connected to other steels and materials by welding or soldering in a durable manner. In terms of design, however, a new world opens up. A completely different design language has to be found when dealing with spring steel. Scheele believes that he has developed the technical fundamentals of combining spring steel with other materials permanently and efficiently. In the artist's opinion, working with spring steel as the material for large outdoor sculptures opens a gateway to a very unique design universe.

Social Commitment

• 1979 founding member of the problem group Augsburg artists (PAK)
• 1980 Founding member of the Federal Association of Visual Artists Bavaria (BBK)
• 1996 "Trilogy of Order" essays on social being
• 1998 Art auction in favor of children with cancer from Chernobyl, object (WNr. 49–51)
• 2010 art campaign card index of need, object, plexiglass / color (WNr. 71)

Exhibitions and art events

Art actions

• 1979 "Artist leaves ivory tower" in Augsburg
• 1980 ZDF film "New building renovation"
• 1981 Architecture game "Natural Interference" at the BuGa Kassel
• 1982 Architecture game "Architectural Interference" 100th Kiel Week
• 1982 Architecture game "The Towers of Elias Holl" in Augsburg
• 1983 Architecture game "Exot Futur" in Hamburg
• 1983 "Chamber light" event in Augsburg
• 1985 Event "Artist leaves ivory tower II" MuKu event in Kiel
• 1985 Event "Augsburg Cycle" with "Augsburg Ballade" by Peter Matzer
• 1988 Architecture game "Opus Mixtum" in Augsburg
• 1988 "Sommerkalt" event, ice dome for the elevation of Neusäß
• 1989 Event "Artist leaves ivory tower III", Great Swabian in Augsburg
• 1990 event "Grenzenlos", water ice wall in Munich
• 1990 Event "Der Lenker" bridge sculpture in the flying studio in Neusäß
• 1992 Architecture game "Opus Mixtum 2" and "Kamikaze" in Augsburg
• 1992 Event "Herrnäckerle" Main cycle, flying studio in Bad Wörishofen
• 1993 Architecture game "Opus Mixtum 3, the challenge" in Bad Wörishofen
• 1996 Architecture game "Opus Mixtum 4, 1999" in Weimar
• 2002 "In Balance" event on the Perlach Tower in Augsburg
• 2003 Desired garden dome, release of a new basic building system
• 2003 "Schnark" garden culture climbing sculptures building system, in the flying studio, Scherneck Castle
• 2004 Event "Ahoi Augusta" for the European Capital of Culture application in Augsburg
• 2005 Colorful dome, social sculpture, on the Weltwiese in Augsburg
• 2008 artist looking for a studio, BR3 evening show
• 2010 artist looking for a studio, BR3 regional
• 2012 event "How is natural space created" in Augsburg

Art awards

• 1973 Swabian Art Prize
• 1976 50th Art Prize Augsburg
• 1982 Art Fund Bonn Prize

Web links

Commons : Claus Scheele  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Homepage of Claus Scheele
• The dream garden dome - the work of art in the garden

Individual evidence

1. ^ Article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of June 6, 1981
2. ↑ Sculpture or Architecture? Claus Scheele shows objects in the gallery of the European Academy, Berlin, September - October 73