WOLFF BROELL

Wolff Broell was born in 1950 in Stuttgart, Germany.

A sculptor starts with an existing stone and reduces it; he chisels away until his sculpture takes shape. If he chisels away too much, he cannot correct it. It also takes great physical effort to move the stone, to work it and finally to polish it. Michelangelo is credited with the expression: “The figure is already present in the stone. I merely chisel away the superfluous pieces.” Wolff Broell makes visible this idea about sculpture and all processes connected with it. His stone sculptures look as if they were going through a metamorphosis and as if they were peeling themselves out of the stone of their own accord. Others appear to be covered with a rough stone surface. The contrast between perfectly polished and almost rough spots makes the figures an optical and tactile experience. With the bronze “Open Hamlet” at last the disintegration of the shape is accomplished – the largely finished surface of a bronze figure is pierced; the boundary between figuration and abstraction is crossed.