Sculpture "Ray Figure" (2018) (Unique piece), bronze
Sculpture "Ray Figure" (2018) (Unique piece), bronze
Quick info
unique piece | hand-painted | bronze | size 100 x 30 x 25 cm (h x w x d)
Detailed description
Sculpture "Ray Figure" (2018) (Unique piece), bronze
Menno Fahl builds his neo-Dadaist sculpture warriors from discarded materials such as screws, broken pieces of concrete, newspaper snippets, scraps of wood and metal sieves, which he then colours with strong colours.
Bronze sculpture, hand-painted, 2018. Height: 100 cm. Width: 30 cm. Depth: 25 cm.
About Menno Fahl
Menno Fahl was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1967 and studied painting in Kiel before beginning to study sculpture at the Berlin University of the Arts under Prof. Lothar Fischer in 1994.
Fahl builds his neo-Dadaist sculptural warriors out of materials that have no further use, such as screws, concrete pieces, newspaper clippings, scraps of wood and metal riddle, which he then tints with bold colours.
An alloy of copper with other metals (especially with tin) used since ancient times.
When casting bronze, the artist usually applies the lost-wax technique which is dating back more than 5000 years. It's the best, but also the most complex method of producing sculptures.
First, the artist forms a model of his sculpture. It is embedded in a liquid silicone rubber mass. Once the material has solidified, the model is cut out. The liquid wax is poured into the negative mould. After cooling down, the wax cast is removed from the mould, provided with sprues and dipped into ceramic mass. The ceramic mass is hardened in a kiln, whereby the wax flows out (lost mould).
Now we finally have the negative form, into which the 1400° C hot molten bronze is poured. After the bronze had cooled down, the ceramic shell is broken off and the sculpture is revealed.
Now the sprues are removed, the surfaces are polished, patinated and numbered by the artist himself or, to his specifications, by a specialist. Thus, each casting becomes an original work.
For lower-quality bronze castings, the sand casting method is often used which, however, does not achieve the results of a more complex lost-wax technique in terms of surface characteristics and quality.
A plastic work of sculptural art made of wood, stone, ivory, bronze or other metals.
While sculptures from wood, ivory or stone are made directly from the block of material, in bronze casting a working model is prepared at first. Usually, it is made of clay or other easily mouldable materials.
The prime time of sculpture after the Greek and Roman antiquity was the Renaissance. Impressionism gave a new impulse to the sculptural arts. Contemporary artists such as Jorg Immendorf, Andora, and Markus Lupertz also enriched sculptures with outstanding works.
A one-of-a-kind or unique piece is a work of art that has been personally created by the artist. It exists only once due to the type of production (oil painting, watercolours, drawing, etc.).
In addition to the classic unique pieces, there exist the so-called "serial unique pieces". They present a series of works with the same colour, motif and technique, manually prepared by the same artist. The serial unique pieces are rooted in "serial art", a type of modern art, that aims to create an aesthetic effect through series, repetitions and variations of the same objects or themes or a system of constant and variable elements or principles.
In the history of arts, the starting point of this trend was the work "Les Meules" (1890/1891) by Claude Monet, in which for the first time a series was created that went beyond a mere group of works. The other artists, who addressed to the serial art, include Claude Monet, Piet Mondrian and above all Gerhard Richter.