Kurt Laurenz Metzler

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Kurt Laurenz Metzler (2009)

Kurt Laurenz Metzler (born January 26, 1941 in Balgach , St. Gallen ), signature "KLM", is a Swiss sculptor . His art is important in the field of the design of public spaces; his sculptures are mostly in public spaces.

Life

Metzler was already creative at school, with wood and cardboard, and wanted a future as an artist. He lost his father at the age of twelve and therefore grew up temporarily with his uncle, the painter Florian Metzler .

Since Metzler's mother found the job of a sculptor too uncertain, he initially tried his hand as a draftsman, decorator and photographer. In 1958, however, he enrolled at the “School for Design” in Zurich. There he met artists like Willy Wimpfheimer and Hansruedi Giger , whom he counts to this day as friends. In 1963 he obtained the stone sculptor diploma. In 1964 he studied in Berlin and made his first trip to the USA, where he lived in New York for a year and had several exhibitions in the 1970s. The inspiration for the colored version of his large sculptures stems from this time and the Pop Art movement . In New York, Metzler was in contact with Jim Dine , Larry Rivers and Hans van de Bovenkamp .

After his return he did an apprenticeship to learn blacksmithing with a bodywork fitter in Zurich. During this time he also worked for other sculptors such as Ödön Koch, Arnold D'Altri, Paul Speck and Silvio Mattioli.

The first large figures were made in Tremona (Canton Ticino ) in 1966. At the same time, Metzler received its first public contracts and exhibited several times. The iron sculpture The Conversation , for example, dates from 1973 and is located on Lake Zurich near the Umberg tunnel. The Züri family in Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse was established in 1978.

This was followed by a new study trip through the USA and in 1976 participation in the "International Sculptor Congress" in New Orleans. In 1980 Metzler opened a studio in Tillson, New York State , where works for exhibitions in New York and Long Island were created.

In 1989 he moved to Italy, where he started to work in Iesa near Siena with Claudia, his second wife and two sons. Today he lives in Tuscany and Zurich . The garden around his estate " Il Parco di Kurt Laurenz Metzler " is now populated with around 50 figures and, like the Giardino by Daniel Spoerri and the Tarot garden by Niki de Saint Phalle, is one of the artist gardens in Tuscany known as arte ambientale were.

Numerous monumental works in public space date from this period. The plants are located in Australia, Germany and the USA.

In 1996 Metzler exhibited in the Caracalla thermal baths , in 1997 in Siena and in 2003 in Milan. In 2006, a selection of his works was on view in the Parkhotel on the Bürgenstock near Lake Lucerne. In the same year he took part in the 3rd Swiss Triennial of Sculpture, of which he was also the technical director, in Bad Ragaz and Vaduz. In 2007, numerous sculptural works by Metzler were on view in the public space of Ansbach as part of the Ansbach Sculpture Mile.

Sculpture "A city neurotic"

From July to October he took part in the Bella Estate Dell'Arte Di Milano , with a traveling exhibition Nevrotici Metropolitani on the station square of Milano. The exhibition was sponsored by art critic Vittorio Sgarbi and praised by Milan's Mayor Letizia Moratti.

A book with numerous texts by Vittorio Sgarbi, Alberto Bartalini & Franz Jaeger, with photo documentation by Mario Mulas, brother of the late art photographer Ugo Mulas, about the "Nevrotici Metropolitani" traveling exhibition was published in 2008–2009.

In 2009 Metzler exhibited his traveling exhibition "Nevrotici Metropolitani" in the "Piazza Basilica Inferiore" in Assisi.

In July 2009 in collaboration with the Belvedere Gallery Singapore, he designed the sculpture group "Urban People" an exciting and iconic public art installation in the heart of Orchard Road, right in front of the ION Orchard Building in Singapore.

At the end of the summer he took part in the Concert For Viareggio as the only sculptor, with 5 of his works next to the stage. The idea comes from Zucchero , Sting and Andrea Bocelli , the headliners of the evening, with many other artists and personalities from the fields of sports and entertainment.

On the occasion of the Andrea Bocelli concert in the Teatro del Silenzio, which took place on July 25, 2010, he created the breathtaking 14 meter monumental sculpture of a modernist star, as well as the metallic-human figures in bright Crayola colors that line the stone walls of the open-air Theaters, as well as the roofs and piazzas in Lajatico.

style

Sculpture "Bank" in Landau

His idiosyncratic figures are created from materials that are heavy, but appear light in the finished work (marble, bronze, iron, aluminum, but also colored polyester). Sometimes they are bare, but often they are painted in one color.

The older motifs are tightrope walkers, engine people to whom chains or engine parts are built. The motifs of the newspaper reader, the urban neurotic or the giant man are more current. Characteristics of these more recent works are the oversized shoes, which seem to anchor the long-limbed creatures in the ground, and the pronounced head shapes. Based on this peculiarity, Metzler also named the works from this phase as rolling heads .

Works (selection)

  • Conversation , Ulmberg Tunnel , Zurich, 1973
  • Pole vaulter , Uster , 1974
  • Züri family , Bahnhofstrasse , Zurich, 1978–79
  • Conversation in motion , Überlandstrasse, Zurich
  • Figure group made of aluminum , Spreitenbach , 1993–94.

literature

  • Daniela Schneuwly-Poffet, Kurt Laurenz Metzler. Ansbach Sculpture Mile 2007. July 21 to October 21 . Ansbach 2007

Web links

Commons : Kurt Laurenz Metzler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files