Stefan Rinck, It Owl, 2021
"I am interested in literature, art history, geology, conceptual art, post-war comics, modernism... I find my inspiration in books, on the Internet and in video games. Greek mythology meets Pacman. It's not just history – we live in the present moment, after all." — Stefan Rinck Representative of the artist's sculptural work, the figure It Owl evokes various creatures, drawing inspiration from ancient myths, medieval bestiaries, and Aztec legends, but also, iconoclastically, from pop culture, emojis, and film history. Amusing, strange, and chimerical, Stefan Rinck's colorful idols blur our contemporary stories and seem to reconcile seemingly contradictory shapes and memories. The artist refers to his work as "wild abstraction," where history, psychology, rituals, fantasy, magic, aesthetics, and craftsmanship meet to reveal everything we have buried in our subconscious. Technically, his practice relies on the ancient tradition of sculpture. His works retain a brutalist aura, revealing all the vestiges of a "fight" against and with the stone as one approaches.
Good to know
The figure It Owl was exhibited at FIAC in 2021 at the Jardin des Tuileries and in Le Havre for "Un été au Havre" in 2023. Rinck studied art history and philosophy at the University of Saarland in Saarbrücken, as well as sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe. Rinck has exhibited internationally, notably at the Museum de Hallen (Haarlem), Sorry We’re Closed (Brussels), Nino Mier Gallery (New York & Los Angeles), Skarstedt (East Hampton), Semiose (Paris), Vilma Gold (London), Rüdiger Schöttle (Munich), The Breeder (Athens), Galeria Alegria (Madrid & Barcelona), among others. He participated in the Busan Biennale in South Korea, Vent des Forêts and La Forêt d’Art Contemporain in France, where he created monumental sculptures in public spaces. In 2018, Les Mangoustes de Beauvais were installed permanently in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, and in 2021, the sandstone sculpture Why I bear/Großer Lastenbär was inaugurated at Zionskirchplatz in Berlin. His works are in public collections worldwide, including CBK Rotterdam, the Musée de la Loterie, FRAC Corse, and Sammlung Krohne, among others. In 2019, Rinck was featured in the publication 100 Sculptors of Tomorrow by Thames & Hudson. The documentary Heart of Stone by Sonja Baeger premiered in Berlin in 2021 and shows Rinck's creative process for three monumental sculptures.
Automatically translated from French.
Where does it take place?
Luxembourg Art Week
Glacis square (Fouerplaatz)
Ville-Haute Luxembourg
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