ArtMetal / Hephaistos

A Physician and the Love of Steel

page 2

 

For his present monumental objects, Claussen uses huge chunks of steel plate and has them worked up to his specifications by the specialized shop of SMB Metalbau in Kaendler, Thuringia. For him, steel is the ideal medium for translating his ideas into a "sensory experience". He feels this is at least in part due -- in addition to the technical aspects of steel's unique workability -- to the notion that "steel has a certain intrinsic vibration, a pulsation, an almost tremulous quality in tension with its massive weight which speaks to the feet-on-the-earth reality of the human condition." Claussen in his studio with his steel is a boundlessly energetic volcano in a fountain of sparks. Who encounters him thus and hears him break into happy laughter with his resident assistant at the successful completion of a job, will begin to comprehend the fascination that posses this latter day Viking and flows from him into his work.

In 1981, the 500th birthday of Tilmann Riemenschneider, the City of Würzburg commissioned sculptures from the "anointed" big names of Franconia -- Totnan, Colonan and Kilian. Claussen wanted to create a modern counterpoint to the otherwise historical representations of the Baroque city and selected a strikingly abstract-alienated form that drew much sharp criticism.

 

 

last refreshed Sat, Oct 4, 1997

© copyright 1997 all rights reserved ArtMetal / HEPHAISTOS Internationale Zeitschrift für Metallgestalter