Peter Lenk

Lenks Imperia in the Konstanz harbor entrance

Peter Lenk (born June 6, 1947 in Nuremberg ) is a German sculptor from Bodman-Ludwigshafen on Lake Constance . In a satirical way, he depicts social grievances that he feels.

Life

Lenk studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart . At first he was an art teacher and potter. He achieved his fame through the conception and execution of sculptures made of cast concrete.

Early Actions

In the 1980s, Lenk attracted attention mainly through unauthorized actions. These included:

• the 12-ton sculpture "Swabian Raft Driver" under the motto "We want to continue eating in peace" on Berlin's Kurfürstendamm.
• On the occasion of the 25th anniversary (1986) of the building of the Berlin Wall, the "Mauerkieker" opposite Checkpoint Charlie. In the police protocol, Lenk explains: "When the Vopos laugh, they don't shoot".
• For the 750th anniversary in Berlin, as an unauthorized contribution to the Berlin Sculpture Boulevard, Lenk placed the 12-meter-long "Ship of Fools" sculpture on a low-loader in the middle of Breitscheidplatz right next to the Memorial Church. His mobile monument had to be removed the next day because a church rally was planned at this very location and "two shriveled bishops and a hermaphroditic cardinal" could also be seen on the ship. Lenk states that at the time he had to pay a fine of DM 105 and received a point in Flensburg for “parking ships on public roads”.
• on the Münsterplatz in Bonn he erected the sculpture "Dionysus in the fool" (an allusion to Helmut Kohl ) with the election dedication "The Victors 1987".

Major works

General view of the so-called Pimmel über Berlin (actually peace be upon you ) at the TAZ building in Berlin

The donkey on the market square of Biberach

Sculpture of Ludwig's legacy Ludwigshafen on Lake Constance

Sculpture "Battle for Europe" by Peter Lenk in Radolfzell on Lake Constance (detail)

Further works by Peter Lenk (selection).

Lucky pig , Schwetzingen

The magic column in Meersburg

Sculpture of Ludwig's legacy Ludwigshafen on Lake Constance, detail

The Bodensee rider , Martin Walser on the fountain in Überlingen

Detail of column and fountain in Herrenberg

The Black Forest in Titisee-Neustadt

Sculpture of Hansjakob in Hagnau / Bodensee

Paradise snake in Singen (excerpt with Barack Obama)

His nationally known works include Imperia (1993) in the Konstanz harbor entrance, the triptych Ludwigs Erbe (2008) at the former Baden customs house in Ludwigshafen on Lake Constance and the so-called Pimmel über Berlin (2009).

In Konstanz there is also the Konstanz Triumphal Arch ( Lenkbrunnen at the busy Untere Laube) from 1992 and the 14 meter high concrete sculpture entitled “ Career Ladder ” in front of the Max-Stromeyer-Straße 116 office building in the Konstanz Business Park.

Lenk provoked a scandal in Überlingen , where he immortalized the local “poet prince” Martin Walser as a figure on the Bodenseereiter fountain near the ship landing stage , as he sits unfavorably as a rider across Lake Constance on an old horse with skates instead of spurs on his feet the “thin ice of German history” (Lenk), surrounded by rather older naked water maids.

Another object is the "donkey" on the market square in Biberach an der Riss .

In Pfullendorf , Lenk put Count Lennart Bernadotte , the former owner of the Mainau , as a naked butterfly man on a pillar with a huge “pollinator” between his legs. The count was known to be fertile. His creative power as a park designer for the flower island Mainau is recognized.

Another Lenk plant has been in Lauffen am Neckar in the middle of a traffic circle since the summer of 2003 and is called Hölderlin in the traffic circle .

In Ravensburg , in the Bachstrasse in front of the former Gasthaus zur Krone, a memorial commemorates the fate of the " Swabian children " from Tyrol, Graubünden and Vorarlberg. On the shoulders of a little Swabian child, servants and clergymen sit in oppressive abundance. During the winter, the poor “Swabian children” were taken from their barren, needy, mountain farming environment to the rich Swabian region to the contracting markets.

In Stockach you can see ex-defense minister Rudolf Scharping standing four times saluting on a submarine, the ensemble also includes a buxom naked woman. And on the gable of the lower pharmacy (in the upper town) sits his vow of honor.

On October 3, 2004, a monumental sculpture by Lenk on the subject of the “ Baden Revolution 1848/1849 ” and its suppression by Prussian troops was unveiled in the margrave town of Schopfheim . They are figures made of gray concrete on a 3.50 meter high and 20 meter long balance beam . The then Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg Erwin Teufel can be recognized 6 times as a Prussian soldier with a spiked hat on his head and a bayonet-reinforced rifle. The group storms towards the undisciplined bunch of Baden revolutionaries. One of them is embodied by a member of the 1968 movement, the Communard Fritz Teufel . He has put a devil puppet figure with a pimple hood on his thumb and pulls the trigger of his pistol with it. His goal: the storming devil clones: "The devil shoots the devil at the devil," jokes Lenk. You can also recognize the Baden revolutionaries Friedrich Hecker , Gustav Struve , Emma Herwegh (she shows the naked reverse side) and Hecker's dog, a vicious Schopfheimer mongrel, who ran to Hecker and accompanied him.

Also from 2004 come three bridge figures in Hirsau , which show the founder of the monastery, Abbot Wilhelm, his destroyer Melac and an indifferent witness.

Another work of art is the magic column on the pier in Meersburg . The filigree work depicts events and personalities from the history of the city of Meersburg. Annette von Droste-Hülshoff sits on the upper end of the column as a free seagull; a few meters below her the "Meersburger Amor" hovers, aiming at Baron Joseph von Laßberg . This is depicted as a kind of Don Quixote from the Lake Constance region and raises a stick or a rolled-up handwriting in the direction of the city. On an arm on the other side of the column is a cage in which the scientists Maximilian Hell , Anton von Störck and Jan Ingenhousz are locked, while on the roof of the cage Franz Anton Mesmer triumphs with a huge horseshoe-shaped magnet in his hands. On the right below the Laßberg figure is a representation of Wendelgard von Halt ; At the foot of the column the exorcist Johann Joseph Gaßner drives out various devils in front of the amazed audience, while the Prince-Bishop Franz Konrad von Rodt raises his gaze to heaven and holds a cross in his raised hand.

The statue “ Pendelschlag 2000 Jerg Ratgeb, Koch und ein Pug”, created in collaboration with Hellmut Ehrath , is centrally located in Herrenberg . It depicts the execution ( quartering ) of the painter Jerg Ratgeb in 1526 due to his leading participation in the peasant war . Jerg Ratgeb created the Herrenberger Altar so that Lenk's reference can be understood both politically and artistically. There are also several figures by Peter Lenk in the outdoor area of ​​the Hotel “Römerhof” in Herrenberg- giltstein (including a model of Imperia and “Perseus” without a sword).

In 2008 his first work was unveiled in his home town of Bodman-Ludwigshafen. In front of the town hall in Ludwigshafen , the former Baden main customs office at the port, there is a three-part relief with the title “ Ludwig's legacy ”. Based on the renaming of Sernatingen in Ludwigshafen in the time of Baden, further inconsistencies of the story are discussed. Among other things, five naked politicians are shown grabbing each other's genitals. The five naked people depicted on the partial relief “ Global Players ” are Angela Merkel , Gerhard Schröder , Hans Eichel , Edmund Stoiber and Guido Westerwelle .

In November 2009, Lenk commented on a long-standing argument between taz and Bild's editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann with what the media calls the dick over Berlin , a relief on the facade of the taz editorial building .

An artistic collaboration with his daughter Miriam Lenk was unveiled at the end of November 2011 under the title “Excavations” in the Upper Suburb in the Ebingen district of Albstadt ( Zollernalbkreis ). It contains allusions to Claudia Roth , Joschka Fischer , Stefan Mappus and Thilo Sarrazin . The sculptures Strauss and Molch are by Miriam Lenk.

The Schelmenbaum is a twelve meter high installation from 2012 in Emmingen-Liptingen . On the first branch, the human-ape-like plagiarists have recognizable facial features. On the second tree branch, the two arguing fools' guilds "Buchenberger" and "Schlehenbeißer" symbolize conflicting currents in the double community. In the upper branches of the creeping figure of a liver man towards a beautiful with Irokesenschnitt persifliert . A figure hangs upside down in the treetop.

In July 2013, the 13-meter-high sculpture “Battle for Europe” followed in Radolfzell , which addresses German European policy. Here are u. a. Angela Merkel , Peer Steinbrück and Andreas Vosskuhle are shown. The figure of Europe from Greek mythology is harassed by lobbyists, financial jugglers and politicians and is protected by the Federal Minister of Finance at her head.

The work from 2014 in the Burgunderhof in Hagnau am Bodensee , Frenkenbacher Straße / Am Sonnenbühl depicts Heinrich Hansjakob in a pious gesture as a three meter high bust. Three of his illegitimate children are grouped around his head.

In Singen (Hohentwiel) his work "Paradiesschlange" has been available since 2015 in the form of an internet cable, connected to Obama, Merkel, Putin, Bezos and others. a. It's about eavesdroppers and eavesdroppers. Singing is attributed to a development from an industrial location to a heavenly size.

In autumn 2016 the creation “Glücksschwein” was set up in Schwetzingen . You can see Carl Theodor with a mistress on a fat sow, whereby the lucky pig does not mean the animal itself, but the elector.

In Bodman on Lake Constance , the cast limestone relief The Ship of Fools was attached to the outer wall of the Seeum in the Uferpark in 2018 . It is in the tradition of Brant's ship of fools and satirizes society in its depravity, drunkenness and greediness. Among other things, politicians and board members from the auto industry are shown.

Artistic philosophy

His works repeatedly meet with severe criticism because he deliberately violates taboos, for example by depicting naked celebrities. Peter Lenk about his works in an interview: “The ground to create my works in my way of thinking is only available in Germany. Germans are most capable of self-irony and are tolerant enough to endure and understand my provocations. But here, too, I often encounter strong resistance ”.

Collected outdoor sculptures

In Bodman, on the slope of Kaiserpfalzstrasse in the direction of Ludwigshafen, some of his designs and works can be seen in a kind of open-air exhibition. On the basis of the objects, the development phases of his art can be understood to a certain extent.

Exhibitions

• Peter Lenk, 40 years of Zoff and wink. Municipal Gallery Überlingen, June 2, 2017–15. October 2017.

Books

• Peter Lenk: Sculptures , Pictures, Letters, Comments, Stadler 2008, ISBN 978-3-7977-0516-7
• Peter Lenk, Helmut Weidhase: Imperia , Stadler, ISBN 978-3-7977-0374-3
• Helmut Weidhase: The Triumphal Arch of Constance , Stadler, ISBN 978-3-7977-0296-8
• Peter Lenk, Helmut Weidhase: Magic column Meersburg , Stadler, ISBN 978-3-7977-0540-2
• Peter Lenk, Helmut Weidhase, Guido Kasper: Heinrich - Founder Schwerins , Stadler, ISBN 978-3-7977-0334-7
• Peter Lenk, Dirk Bartsch: Berlin Rodeo , Stadler, Konstanz 2004, ISBN 978-3-7977-0508-2

Web links

Commons : Peter Lenk  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Artist's website
• Literature by and about Peter Lenk in the catalog of the German National Library
• Christian Mayer: Every sculpture is a scandal. In: sueddeutsche.de . May 12, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2009 . 
• Der Provokateur , Interview with Peter Lenk, in: Context: weekly newspaper, 1./2. October 2011
• Josef Kelnberger: portrait. The rascal from Lake Constance. Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 17, 2019

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "That's hypocrisy." Uli Fricker's summer interview with Peter Lenk. In: Südkurier of August 3, 2012
2. ↑ The sculptor Peter Lenk. In: Alexander Pohle: 99 x Lake Constance as you don't know it yet. Bruckmann Verlag GmbH 2014. ISBN 978-3-7654-8303-5 . Pp. 76 to 77.
3. ↑ From the blurb on Peter Lenk: Sculptures - Pictures, Letters, Comments
4. ↑ From the blurb on Peter Lenk: Sculptures - Pictures, Letters, Comments
5. ↑ kunstbruecke.de: Peter Lenk
6. ↑ IRIS® Media 2010: “Global Players” instead of “Pyronale”  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Peter Lenk . In: Der Spiegel . No. 7 , 1987, pp. 210 ( online - Feb. 9, 1987 ).
8. ^ Elisabeth Schwind: The rogue from Lake Constance. In: Südkurier of June 6, 2017, p. 11.
9. ↑ Hotel Römerhof, Validstein
10. ↑ Mitteldeutsche Zeitung - When Mrs. Merkel reaches for Stoiber's penis….
11. ↑ Timo Frasch: “Not without his dick”, in: FAZ of September 21, 2008, No. 38, p. 4
12. ^ "Naked Chancellor dances with Schröder" in taz.de
13. ↑ ftd.de ( Memento from November 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
14. ^ [1] in Frankfurter Rundschau from June 18, 2010
15. ↑ Pimmel über Berlin ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2012 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. on taz.de from November 17, 2009 
16. ↑ Albstädter respond positively to Lenk's sculptures. Sculptor reveals caricatures by Mappus, Fischer and Sarrazin - all top secret. In: Schwäbische Zeitung . December 20, 2011
17. ↑ Uli Fricker: Baden-Württemberg: A rogue who thinks good . In: Südkurier . October 13, 2012
18. ^ Uli Fricker: Baden-Württemberg: Two doctors are enough . In: Südkurier . October 16, 2012
19. ↑ Municipality of Emmingen-Liptingen: Lenk-Skulptur  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .  October 18, 2012
20. ^ [2] Stuttgarter Zeitung of July 13, 2013
21. ↑ Torsten Lucht: Peter Lenk conquers Radolfzell. In: Südkurier of July 13, 2013.
22. ^ Uli Fricker: Reverend in suspenders. In: Südkurier of April 26, 2014.
23. ↑ Uwe Petersen: A strange village saint. In: Südkurier from May 2, 2014.
24. ↑ Uli Fricker: Obama comes to Singen. In: Südkurier from August 1, 2015.
25. ^ Elisabeth Schwind: The rogue from Lake Constance. In: Südkurier of June 6, 2017, p. 11.
26. ↑ Uli Fricker: The return of the prodigal son. In: Südkurier , April 21, 2018.
27. ↑ Broadcast Beautiful! about Lake Constance with Tamina Kallert in the 3rd TV program of the WDR on August 17, 2008, 8:15 p.m. - 9:45 p.m. with an interview with Lenk in his artist garden in Bodman
28. ↑ oV: “Don't ask for permission, but do something” in: Seesommer Bodensee 2006, p. 8 f.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
29. ↑ This open-air exhibition with comments by Lenk on the meaning of the representations is shown within: Gernstls Deutschlandreise (19). Travel report: From Basel to Lake Constance (2/3). Production Bayerischer Rundfunk 2007. Broadcast by BRalpha on June 12, 2010, 8:00 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.
30. ↑ Ulrike Niederhofer: The court jester of the republic. In: "Südkurier", August 11, 2017, p. 29.