Stuart Wolfe

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The artist in the foundry with his bronze sculpture Pan.

Stuart Nigel Reid Wolfe (born July 20, 1956 in London ) is a British actor , circus performer , sculptor , painter , designer , physiotherapist and osteopath . The universal artist is known for his leading role in the film A Love Like Others from 1983 and for his characters against forgetting , which were installed in the Ravensbrück memorial in 2006 . He lives and works in Berlin .

Life

Wolfe spent his early childhood in London. Immediately after the Berlin Wall was erected , he moved to West Berlin with his family in 1961 . From 1961 he attended the school of the German-American Community there, which was renamed the John F. Kennedy School in 1963 during the visit of US President John F. Kennedy after his famous speech Ich bin ein Berliner . According to his own account, Wolfe succeeded in shaking hands with the president during the naming ceremony.

The twelve-year-old Wolfe took part in the student protests in West Berlin together with the school senator Carl-Heinz Evers. After a subsequent stay from 1968 to 1970 with the family in Bangalore , India , where he attended the Bishop Cotton Boys School, Wolfe returned to Berlin to the John F. Kennedy School, which he received in 1975 with a high school diploma (12th grade) . Class) graduated.

Wolfe found his way into an artistic environment in 1975 in Berlin at the Schillertheater and Schlosspark Theater , where he worked for several months behind the scenes and as a cloakroom. In 1976 he worked for a few months at theaters in New York City and New Jersey . From 1977 to 1978 he toured France , Israel and several countries in Africa , where he made his living street music for half a year in Paris . He then completed the English Abitur in London . He stayed in London and attended an acting class at the Mountview Academy of Theater Arts there from 1979 to 1980 . Then in 1981 he took private acting lessons from Else Bongers and Otto Sander in Berlin. During this time he also attended the circus and artist school in the Tempodrom for 18 months . In addition, he gained his first experience as an actor in theater, film and television. From 1983 to 1988 he worked in major roles in five cinema and TV productions.

In order to acquire a recognized professional qualification that guarantees a steady income, Wolfe completed training as a physiotherapist from 1983 to 1985 at the Oskar-Helene-Heim in Berlin. Later, from 1990 to 1994, he specialized in osteopathy through additional training . From then until 2014 he worked as an osteopath two days a week with almost no interruption.

In 1986 Wolfe decided to build up a second artistic existence as a sculptor, painter and designer. From 1987 to 1989 he first undertook study trips around the globe with stays in Warsaw , Prague , Rome , Florence , Thailand , Singapore , Australia , New Caledonia , Tahiti and the USA . From 1990 to 1995 some of his works were represented in various international exhibitions. In 1996 he started working on traveling exhibitions and had further study trips to Malaysia , Vienna , Spain and Italy . 1997 saw the first collaboration with architects for projects in Berlin and Sachsenhausen. In 1999 he exhibited in France and Italy under his sole name. Further architecture and, for the first time, photo projects followed in 2000. This was followed by cultural trips to New York and through Europe. Several commissioned work helped him to gain a new reputation.

In 2003 Wolfe was appointed Artist in Residence . At the Berlin British School he began working as a freelance teacher for art and drama. In the same year he founded the "sleeping dogs gallery" in Berlin's Kochstrasse near Checkpoint Charlie , which he ran for two years. In 2004 Wolfe began the multi-year phase of various large-scale projects. In 2005 he went on a study trip to Asia, financed by jobs in restoration and architecture, before he mainly worked in the studio from 2006 onwards.

The renowned projects, but also numerous design works, were presented at three art fairs in Switzerland , Berlin and Paris in 2015 . Since 2016 Wolfe has been marketing handcrafted design objects under the stw-design label . In 2017 and 2018 he also acted on behalf of art collectors in several southern European countries. Since 2019 he has been developing his style with new techniques in graphics and modeling.

Theater (selection)

Filmography (selection)

movie theater

Television (selection)

Work as a sculptor and painter

Works (selection)

Visual arts

"Figures against oblivion" at the Anhalter Bahnhof
Ornamentation and figure by Stuart Wolfe on the facade of the residential building Pannierstrasse 41, Berlin
  • 1993: Graphic cycle "Taurus & Equus"
  • 1995: "Figures against forgetting" - Installation of 17 larger-than-life sculptures at the Anhalter Bahnhof Berlin on the subject of "Holocaust Memorial", opening by Alfred Gottwaldt from the German Museum of Technology Berlin
  • 1997–1999: "Gray man" - sculpture in the garden of the house at Am Priesterberg 10 in 13465 Berlin (architect: Oliver Collingnon)
  • 1997–1999: artistic design of the house Pannierstr. 41 in 12047 Berlin (Architect: Holger Schweitzer)
  • 1997–1999: Design of the memorial site in the former Klinkerwerk subcamp - Sachsenhausen youth project in cooperation with the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation
  • from 1999: Marketing of sculptures via the Kunst.AG internet platform
  • 2000: Telephone Box Sculptures
  • 2006: “Holocaust Memorial” - purchase of the “Figures against Forgetting” by the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation for the Ravensbrück memorial , installation in the former Ravensbrück concentration camp
  • 2008 and 2010: "Hanging Forest" - installation project for a potential location in Berlin
  • 2011: "Hanging Hedges" - land art project developed
  • 2011: Art project at the Johann August Zeune School for the Blind
  • 2011: Order for the artistic design of the Hans-Peter-Hauschild-Prize awarded annually for the German AIDS-Aid
  • 2012/13: Sturgeon rtr Project - artistic and sculptural support for the reintroduction of the sturgeon in rivers in Germany, Holland, France and England

Several of the projects mentioned were donated or carried out within the framework of social engagement :

  • 1995: "Figures against forgetting" at the Anhalter Bahnhof
  • 1999: Sachsenhausen youth project - Klinkerwerk subcamp
  • 1999: three sculptures from the project “Creating Modern Myths” for the exhibition “100 Years of the Blind Museum” in Berlin
  • 2011: Project "Modeling for blind children" in the Johann-August-Zeune-School for the blind

Applied arts and crafts

Upcycling design lights blamp 1 spring collection
Upcycling lamp Alt-Moabit black made from bicycle parts
  • 2014: Expansion of the bronze furniture series "living sculpture"
  • 2016: Creation and marketing under the upcycling label "stw-design"
  • Lamp collection "smart upcycling ideas from Berlin"
Bronze sculpture Minotaur in the art foundry Hermann Noack, Berlin

Solo exhibitions (selection)

Latitude desk made of bronze, wood and glass
Bronze and glass table amphibians
Bronze and glass shelf Arabesque with animal figurines

Group exhibitions

  • Galerie Hahn Sylt, Künstlerhaus Odense and U-Bahn line 9 Berlin - each via the Michael Schutz sculpture association
  • Galerie Richter Berlin
  • Hermann Noack workshop gallery
  • gallery sleeping dogs with "4 europeans 1 dog"
  • Berlin AIDS Help
  • Maison & Objet, Paris
  • Museum of Labor, Hamburg
  • Forum Factory Berlin, Gallery Week End
  • Michael Schmalfuß Gallery in the "Löwenvilla Potsdam"

Awards

2003: Artist in Residence in Berlin

Reception in the media (selection)

Probably the most detailed description of the film A love like others with Stuart Wolfe in one of the two leading roles is provided by the Berlinale program in 1983. The two directors, Hans Stempel and Martin Ripkens, also comment on this in an interview. At the Berlinale 2008, Stempel and Ripkens received a Special Teddy Award for their filmmaking, which never had it easy against social conventions.

"Figures against oblivion" in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp memorial
“Figures against oblivion” in the Ravensbrück concentration camp memorial

The sculptor Wolfe attracted the greatest attention with his figures against oblivion , which were erected over several years at various locations (Anhalter Bahnhof Berlin, Nazi memorials Sachsenhausen and Ravensbrück) and finally bought by the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation. The eight sculptures are made of plaster of paris, wood wool and iron and have different colored angles as symbols for the different groups of inmates.

On its website, the Konfrontationen Berlin working group - partner of the Fritz Bauer Institute and dedicated to the educational approach to the history and impact of the Holocaust - acknowledges that the topics of National Socialist persecution and the Holocaust have long occupied the artist Stuart Wolfe and also refers to the youth project at “Clinker Works Memorial Square” of the Sachsenhausen Memorial. The website publishes biographies and articles by and about personalities such as Hannah Arendt , Fritz Cremer , Jürgen Habermas or Loretta Walz .

The handover of the sculptures in 2008 by Hermann Schäfer, the Federal Government's Deputy Commissioner for Culture and Media, to the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation for the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp Memorial was reported in a report from the Federal Government. Schäfer: “The statues by the artist Stuart Wolfe add the artistic aspect to the historically well-founded exhibition at the Ravensbrück memorial. Wolfe confronts us with people on their way to the concentration camp. I am very pleased that the federal government was able to sponsor the acquisition of these statues. Here, in an authentic place, you can develop your very special effect. "

In 2017, Spiegel Online showed the sculptures displayed in the memorial with the caption: “Against forgetting: 'Figures against oblivion' are the names of these works of art displayed in front of the gate of the Ravensbrück memorial. They are meant to remind of the crimes that happened behind the high walls of the concentration camp. This included, among other things, the forced operations on mostly Polish women. "

Different views of the figures against oblivion are also available from the paid stock agency Alamy.

But the design projects are also repeatedly echoed in blogs, press and TV reports from Europe to Asia to Latin America, for example Costa Rica . Since this is also so-called upcycling , Wolfe's work in Berlin is also perceived as part of the maker movement. Instead of buying bulk goods, more and more people are getting creative and making things themselves. Criteria such as sustainability and optimal adaptation to the owner are just as important as living out one's own creativity. Experts discussed this in 2016 at the Technoversum forum, the future debate in the German Museum of Technology . The Berlin TrenntMagazin published an interview with Wolfe on the subject of upcycling art in 2017. The British culture travel portal The Culture Tip classifies Wolfe's work with used bicycle parts in the Berlin Re Cycling project .

Web links

Commons : Stuart Wolfe  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mountview Academy of Theater Arts, London. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  2. ↑ 13th Forum of International Films (ed.): A love like others . 1983 ( arsenal-berlin.de ).
  3. ↑ A love like others in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  4. ↑ A love like others on Amazon. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  5. ^ Social study: A love like others also at Prisma.de. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  6. ↑ DVD product information A love like any other at Salzgeber Medien. (PDF) Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Races in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  8. ↑ Cold Room in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  9. ↑ Because I Said So at the Internet Movie Database (English)
  10. ↑ Zugzwang. In: filmportal.de . German Film Institute , accessed on November 19, 2019 .
  11. ↑ Telephone Box Sculptures on the artist's website. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  12. ^ Figures in Ravensbrück on the artist's website. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  13. ^ Hanging Forest on the artist's website. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  14. ^ Hanging Hedges on the artist's website. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  15. ^ Sturgeon rtr Project on the artist's website. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  16. ↑ smart upcycling ideas from Berlin on the artist's designer website. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  17. ^ Sculptures and graphics by Stuart Wolfe in the Hofkunst gallery. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Bronze figure Minotaur in the artist references of the bronze foundry Hermann Noack Berlin. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  19. ↑ 13th international forum of young film berlin. 19.2.-1.3. 1983 . Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Two for the Road in the program of the Teddy Award of the Berlinale 2008. (PDF) Retrieved on November 19, 2019 .
  21. ^ Art as a testimony: Stuart Wolfe at the Working Group Confrontations Berlin. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  22. ↑ "Figures against forgetting" handed over , report by the federal government of February 11, 2008 on the portal of the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate (original source deleted). Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Forced operations in the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp: How tortured the test animals. In: Spiegel Online . February 7, 2017, accessed November 19, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Stock Photos Sculptures by Stuart NR Wolfe on display in tailors' workshop of Ravensbrueck Women's Concentration Camp at Alamy.com. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  25. ↑ From bicycle to design lamp - How Stuart Wolfe saw the light (Worth seeing !, Part 1) at TV.Berlin - The capital station. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  26. ↑ 1205 Doce Cerocinco Magazine, October 19, 2017. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Panel discussion “maker” in the Technoversum forum on LinkedIn. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  28. ↑ The new "Maker" movement: Homemade instead of mass-produced goods in the Technoversum forum. (PDF) Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  29. ↑ 3 questions to: Stuart Wolfe in TrenntMagazin online on June 19, 2014. Accessed on November 19, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Berlin Re Cycling: A Crafty Take on Old Bike Parts on TheCultureTrip.com. Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Wolfe, Stuart
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wolfe, Stuart Nigel Reid (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British actor, circus performer, sculptor, painter, designer, physiotherapist and osteopath
DATE OF BIRTH July 20, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH London