the poetry of things.
abstract sculptures that touch us – born from found everyday objects. artist rolf hans, (1938-1996), was a photographer, musician and painter. in the 60s and 70s he was close to the movement of ‚art informel‘, which used color and shape alone to express emotional experiences and impulses. his abstract paintings are the results of a deliberate and balanced creative process focussing on the rhythm and composition of color, form, and line.
in 1987, hans resumes the medium of sculpture. in this phase, the working process is no longer considered to be deliberate constructing, but to be guided by the given. his objects now emerge out of an inner necessity, not to fill an intellectual vacuum. „this compulsion has kept me under control for decades, and for a few years I’ve been trying to pacify it with the cycle of ‚poetry of things‘.“ *1 the source material for his sculptures are found objects, mainly made of wood and metal, discovered at flea markets, at second-hand dealers, in barns, cellars and stables, or in antique stores. these common things of everyday life – formerly necessary, useful and practical such as tools, utensils, devices – have been deprived of their function and are newly assembled according to his personal artistic vision.
rolf hans is inspired by the art of other cultures, such as that of africa, new guinea, china, the american native people and the ancient germanic tribes, which he sees in collections in basel, berlin and paris, among others. of course there are also european cultural influences: he himself mentions the „ready-mades“ by marcel duchamp and the abstract-styled forms of sculptures by constantin brancusi as well as the poetic dream associations and ironic-bizarre motifs of paul klee. but max ernst’s “objets trouvé” are also likely to have inspired his sculptures – as well as jean tinguely’s witty and whimsical machines and bernhard luginbühl’s iron sculptures. hans got to know both artists personally in the 1960s and has followed their artistic development closely ever since. *2
however, the ‚poetry of things‘ also refers to a completely different perspective: the cognitive abilities of the human brain. it tries to give meaning to everything
we see. which of course was very useful thousands of years ago when our ancestors had to distinguish between tiger and gazelle when hunting – their lives depended on it. today this pattern recognition allows us to discover elephants in clouds, for example. and it lets us see faces everywhere – whether in an old tree, a rock or a house. remember the wonderful pretentious modern ‚villa arpel‘ in jacques tati’s movie “mon oncle”, following the action with rolling „window-eyes“.
the poetry of things thus also relates to the “dreaming” brain, which is still searching everywhere for a friendly face or a human figure. that makes us „connect“ instantly with hans‘ ingenious, archaic, minimal and mythical sculptures: it’s the essence of the human.
rolf hans, ‚poetry of things‘
18 sculptures from rolf hans‘ estate, all of which can of course be purchased individually.
however, the figures look particularly impressive in sets – we have put together three such sets for the pictures. the objects are made of metal and wood, fixed on a wooden base and range in size from approx. 38,5 cm/5,2 inch to 160 cm/63 inch. for more detailed information and pictures, please contact us.
*1, *2: website rolf hans
rolf hans @ kunsthandel draheim
rolf hans – schauspiel im stillen,
katalog, kunsthandel michael draheim, wiesbaden 2007
© fotos: rolf hans, antibeige
