Knopp Ferro

Knopp Ferro (* 1953 as Walter Hinterecker in Bensberg ) is an Austrian sculptor , painter and performance artist . He lives and works in Munich and Inning am Ammersee .

His best-known works - both as an individual artist and as part of the artist group Jet Ferro - are now in international galleries and exhibition halls and were invited to view outside of the documenta in Kassel .

Life

Knopp Ferro, born in Bensberg near Cologne in 1953 , is an Austrian citizen, but grew up in Germany. From 1973 to 1977 he studied metal sculpture and performance with Anton Berger at the University of Applied Sciences for Art and Design in Cologne . During this time he founded the artist group Jet Ferro in 1975 together with his brother and two fellow students. A year later, in 1976, the group worked for six months at Circus Roncalli under the direction of André Heller .

After Jet Ferro broke up in 1979, Knopp Ferro went to Zurich in 1980 and founded the performance theater “Bumper to Bumper” together with the dancer Yvonne Vogel, for which he worked as an author and actor for ten years.

From 1990 to 1992 Knopp Ferro worked in a studio in Zurich, then moved for three years (1992–1995) to New York , USA, and after his return to Germany he worked in Cologne from 1995 to 2005. Since 2006 Knopp Ferro has lived and worked in Munich and Inning am Ammersee.

Plant / reception

Knopp Ferro has made an international name for itself with installation sculptures made of metal: ingenious sculptures made of wire and iron or stainless steel that are reminiscent of mobiles. They hang from the ceiling, can be installed on walls or are placed on stands in a smaller format. These sculptures are complemented by drawings and sketches. During his studies in sculpture, however, Knopp Ferro came into contact with performances , at that time still called actions and happenings, and with this he gained first notoriety together with the artist group "Jet Ferro", later also as a solo artist.

Jet Ferro

Even as a child, Knopp Ferro was interested in slipping into other roles - as a circus performer or a magician. In his youth he became an altar boy in the monastery, less for religious reasons than because of his fascination with the “costumes” and the ceremonies and rituals. These early experiences can be understood as the roots for the later interest in artistic expression in the form of performances.

Jet Ferro was founded in 1975 by Knopp Ferro together with his brother Rolf Hinterecker, as well as artist colleagues and fellow students Fritz Esch and Michael Wolf in Cologne. At that time there was a feeling of change and upheaval in the city. Knopp Ferro himself says that “actionism was in the air”. Artists such as Joseph Beuys and Wolf Vostell organized happenings in the city that made a great impression on the young artists.

The name "Jet Ferro" is made up of "Jet" from "Jet Star", a fast-paced ride at the fair. For the artists it stood for movement, speed and the fascination of airplanes. “Ferro” comes from the Latin word for iron - the material from which Jet Ferro welded the backdrops for their performances - alienated furnishings and everyday objects or entire rooms. In it, they satirized the then emerging pop and rock culture with its star cult and consciously turned away from the emerging art market, which was primarily concerned with painting and sculpture. Beuys' credo “Buy art from the artist” also corresponded to her vision.

In an experimental way and with a lot of fun, art was combined with the physical at the happenings - every new way of expressing art was experimentally incorporated. Music also became an important medium as part of the happening - the group discovered punk for themselves in order to convey emotions.

Jet Ferro worked together for four years and, despite their rejection of the art market and its mechanisms, was very successful. The audience was shocked and fascinated at the same time. Ultimately, the group was even on television in 1976 in the talk show " Kölner Treff " with Alfred Biolek and in 1978 in " Bio's Bahnhof ", where they could be seen with a "stylosion machine" including an "extase lever" - also a parody of the hype at the time Time. Then they wanted to take a break, but there was no more work together.

Theater "Bumper to Bumper"

Knopp Ferro then went to Switzerland, where he founded the performance theater "Bumper to Bumper" together with the dancer Yvonne Vogel, initially in Basel and later in Zurich. They wanted to write their own pieces, and above all they wanted to work with the body. At the same time, according to Knopp Ferro, it was the continuation of the "life illusion machine" that they had already developed as Jet Ferro - they questioned the ideals of that time, asked about the meaning of life and the goal of all striving in human society, often with the help of absurd elements such as a foam rubber hand that stroked the human body, suggesting love and tenderness.

Knopp Ferro was active as an author and actor in the theater group for 10 years and toured with her across Europe. The free alternative theater scene to which the group belonged formed an important antithesis to the traditional, very conservative city theater. The performance always played a role in the pieces and so the work of the theater continued what had already been developed as Jet Ferro.

The first years as a solo artist

After 10 years of touring in the group, Knopp Ferro and his colleagues turned to new, quieter topics - they began to work again with basic concepts such as rhythm or volume. The studio became a laboratory in which individual work was carried out on these key words and the results were then presented to a small audience. Each artist used his own way of expression and language. This became the beginning of Knopp Ferro's work as an individual artist. Furthermore, with the connection between performance and sculpture, works such as the “Fluchturm” were created in Switzerland. The visitors were able to enter it in order to be able to swear freely and uninhibitedly - a great public success.

They were sculptures that - in connection with performances - conveyed social, often primarily political, statements. Art took a political position and thus became a reaction to day-to-day politics.

In 1992 Knopp Ferro moved to New York - at a time when there was very little work there with performance. He made a name for himself with sensational actions: for example, with tin boxes on his back and a deafening noise, he walked through Manhattan and the subway and had it filmed. This film was then projected onto the wall in a gallery and shown in combination with another performance (“Body and honey change the system”).

He understood the minimalist with which Knopp Ferro worked here as a summary of the work of the last 15 to 20 years - a typical product of the 1980s.

After three years in New York, Knopp Ferro returned to Cologne in 1995, where he continued to work with the same visual language and with filmed performances, which were then overlaid with live performances. The conclusion of this phase of the performance was a work shown in the Cologne City Museum.

At the time, there was a relatively strong performance scene in Europe, which was also enriched by Asia. Completely new impulses came from Bangkok, Thailand: Taboos were ruthlessly broken with full physical effort, and topics such as politics, belief and sexuality were discussed - this did not always meet with understanding in Europe. But for Knopp Ferro this was a “new kick” and let him work as a performance artist until 2003/2004. He showed his last performance in Kassel: He “drew” a knife on the wall by scratching it, while musicians underscored it. In a final aggressive act, he finally destroyed a musician's drum with a knife. Knopp Ferro himself said: "For me it was about the emotional, the audience should be able to perceive emotions, the extreme situations are also experienced with the audience."

Installation sculptures

Then Knopp Ferro completely turned away from the performance and has worked almost exclusively as a sculptor since then. As in the earlier days of Jet Ferro, his sculptures are made of metal. The works are referred to in catalogs and texts as “spatial sculptures” and “installation sculptures” and both are appropriate. It is a mobile-like structure made of a multitude of wires that hold metal rods and are connected by them at the same time. They form the body of the standing or hanging sculpture and are usually only fixed at one point and precisely balanced. Despite their weight, they seem to float almost weightlessly. They develop their form solely from the horizontal and the vertical, which seem to follow a system of order. However, this impression is fleeting, because with every movement that affects you - be it a draft or people in the room - the supposedly recognizable image disappears and gives way to a new one. Nothing is what it seems, and every minute the viewer has a new picture in mind. The constant change makes the habits of perception questioned, they are put into perspective.

All works are divided into sub-groups, depending on their size and production: a. the names "ships of the line", "color space", "joint", "line field", "system" and "prop". Each of these groups of works now includes a large number of works.

The title of all works corresponds to the time of completion, a completely neutral designation that does not tempt you to rush into associations. Knopp Ferro leaves this to the viewer. And in addition, in addition to the three dimensions of space, the fourth dimension of time is integrated into the work.

At the end of 2014, Knopp Ferro developed a completely new group of works, the “Color Installation”. The works are mounted - even in color - on brightly colored metal plates.

If the early works, like the one in the Trinitatiskirche in Cologne, are still plain and simple in form and color, the works become more and more comprehensive. In addition to the increasingly complex shape - also technically extremely sophisticated - color is also beginning to play an increasingly important role.

Other works

In parallel to his sculptures, Knopp Ferro works on paper: he makes pen drawings, knife drawings and so-called "early morning drawings", also in ink on paper. Only drawings are delicate, almost lyrical, in common. The delicacy of the knife drawings is heightened by the fact that they lack any color and the drawing is only scratched on the sheet with the knife. Line and point are the focus of the drawings, but these are not construction drawings for the sculptures, but the drawings are completely independent of them. Objective elements are sometimes indicated. They seem like thought supports and memories, but also like attempts to create new forms. The delicate drawings are created quickly and with quick handwriting.

Exhibitions (selection)

• 2018: Outdoor Sculpture Installation, Mario Mauroner Contemporary Art Salzburg, Austria
• 2018: Metal in Motion, Louis Stern Fine Arts, Los Angeles, USA
• 2018: Exposition Collective, Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
• 2017: Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
• 2017: Zeitkunstgalerie - project space, Kitzbühel, Austria
• 2016/17: LEVITATING COLOR, DAN galeria and Espace Expression, Miami, USA (cat.)
• 2016: Gravity, Maddox Arts, London, UK
• 2015: Weight for showing, Maddox Arts, London, Great Britain
• 2014: Suspension / enclosure (RED), Louis Stern Fine Arts / West Hollywood, USA
• 2013: Katherine Putman Gallery, Paris, France
• 2010: Interrupted Silence, Maddox Arts Gallery, London, Great Britain
• 2009: Dan Galería, São Paulo, Brazil
• 2009: Louis Stern Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• 2009: Galería Cayón, Madrid, Spain
• 2009: Galerie Axel Holm, Ulm, Germany
• 2008: Space sign, Galerie Jöllenbeck Michael Nickel, Cologne, Germany
• 2007: Galerie Bergner + Job, Mainz, Germany
• 2007: Ship of the line Kap 22:18 in dialogue with Erwin Heerich, Christ Church, Mainz, Germany
• 2006: Sculpture Score, Opera Festival, Gut Immling, Germany
• 2006: Sculpture & Drawing, Kunstverein Rügen, Germany
• 2005: Drawing beyond gravity, Galerie Jöllenbeck Michael Nickel, Cologne, Germany
• 2005: Ships of the line, Galerie Thomas, Munich, Germany
• 2005: Ueker & Ueker Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
• 2004: Augenraub (with Krimhild Becker and Jo Schultheis), Zeitkunstgalerie, Kitzbühel, Austria
• 2004: Mikado, Kunstraum 21, Cologne, Germany
• 2003: Magnet props, Galerie Jöllenbeck Michael Nickel, Cologne, Germany
• 2003: Ships of the line, sculpture installation, Antoniter Church, Cologne, Germany (cat.)
• 2002: Equal Day and Night, installation, Kunstraum 21, Cologne, Germany
• 2001: Service Culturel & Edition, Galerie Maly, Cologne, Germany
• 2000: Galerie Jöllenbeck Michael Nickel, Cologne, Germany (cat.)
• 1998: Galerie Jöllenbeck Michael Nickel, Cologne, Germany
• 1998: Gothaer Kunstforum, Cologne, Germany (with Max Scholz) (cat.)
• 1998: Zeitkunstgalerie, Kitzbühel, Austria (with Martin Eiter)
• 1996: Zeitkunstgalerie, Cologne, Germany (cat.)
• 1994: Zeitkunstgalerie, Cologne, Germany
• 1992: Galerie Urs Meile, Lucerne, Switzerland (cat.)
• 1978: Jet Ferro, Camomille Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
• 1977: Jet Ferro, Galerie Ingo Kümmel, Cologne, Germany
• 1977: Jet Ferro, Harlekin Art Gallery, Wiesbaden, Germany

Works of art in public collections

• Artothek Cologne, Germany
• Collection Jacques & Miny Defauwes, Netherlands
• Ute and Michael Berger Collection Wiesbaden, Germany
• Ella Fontanals - Cisneros Collection Miami, USA
• Lower Austrian Provincial Museum Linz, Austria
• MACBA Museum Art Center Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Republic of Austria Vienna, Austria
• City of Cologne, Germany
• Stadtsparkasse Cologne, Germany
• Landesmuseum Mainz, Germany

literature

• Ed .: DAN galeria, "KNOPP FERRO - Levitating Color", text: Matthieu Poirier, Sao Paulo 2017
• Ed .: Galerie Axel Holm, "Knopp Ferro", texts: Felicity Lunn, Dr. Nils Röller, Dr. W. Hindemith, Juan Manuel Bonet, Ulm 2010
• Ed .: DAN Galeria, "Knopp Ferro", text: Dr. Nils Röller, Sao Paulo 2009
• Ed .: Galerie Ueker & Ueker, "Knopp Ferro", text: Dr. Niels Röller, Basel 2006
• Ed .: Galerie Thomas, "Knopp Ferro - Linienschiffe, Drawing Beyond Gravity", Munich 2005
• Ed .: Kunstverein Rügen, "Time is on my side - Knopp Ferro, Lutz Günke, Ole Henrik Hagen, Stanislaus Müller-Härlin, Wolfgang Oleze Klaus Walter, Hanne Darboven, Sol LeWitt, Henri Michoux, Helmut Schweizer, Timm Ulrichs", text : Susanne Burmester, Rügen 2004
• Ed .: Evangelical Congregation Cologne, ACO, "Knopp Ferro - Linienschiffe, Installation Antoniterkirche / Cologne, March 18 - May 16, 2003", Texts: Erich Witschke and Engelbert Broich, Cologne 2003
• Ed .: Nassauischer Kunstverein e. V., “Slow motion - Perspectives on the slow; October 21 to December 2, 2001, NKV Wiesbaden; Esther Beutz, Sung Hyung Cho, Knopp Ferro, Linda Opgen-Rhein, Nora Schattauer, Michael Wesely ”, text: Elke Gruhn, Wiesbaden 2001
• Ed .: Galerie Jöllenbeck-Michael Nickel, "Knopp Ferro - A Devilish Approach", texts: Dr. Ulli Seegers, Prof. Dr. Manfred Schneckenburger, Cologne 2000
• Ed .: Atelierforum Köln e. V., "Knopp Ferro and Max Scholz: Raumfahrt / Raumklang - Sculpture / Installation", Text: Klaus Flemming, Cologne 1998
• Ed .: Zeitkunstgalerie / Kitzbühel, Ferdinand Meier, "Knopp Ferro", text: Helmut Bien, publisher: Westermann Kommunikation, Ingelheim 1993
• Ed .: Galerie Urs Meile, “Knopp Ferro / Hinterecker”, Lucerne 1992

Movies

• Ed .: Louis Stern Fine Arts, “Knopp Ferro - Sculpture defying Gravity”, camera cut: Carlos Lügstenmann, Calproduce, West Hollywood, USA, 2009
• Ed .: Knopp Ferro, “Knopp Ferro - Drawing beyond Gravity”, camera editing: Carlos Lügstenmann, Calproduce, West Hollywood, USA, 2008
• Knopp Ferro, “Tollhaus - Video – Video Installation”, approx. 22 minutes, camera: Monika Schuck u. Knopp Ferro, editor: Alessandra Farallo u. Mark-Steffen Göwecke, Munich 1998

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Interview with Knopp Ferro in the European Live Art Archive , accessed on May 31, 2015
2. ↑ ^{a b} About the exhibition “Knopp Ferro Lines” in the Catherine Putman Gallery ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 20, 2015 
3. ^ "Knopp Ferro", Ed .: Galerie Axel Holm / Ulm. 2010
4. ^ "Knopp Ferro - Ships of the Line, Drawing Beyond Gravity", Ed .: Galerie Thomas, Munich, 2005
5. ↑ About the exhibition "Knopp Ferro: Interrupted Silence" in the Maddox Arts Gallery in London ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 25, 2010 

Web links

• Knopp Ferro at artnet.de
• Knopp Ferro at artfacts.net
• Knopp Ferro website: http://www.kferro.com/