Masculin_Masculin is inspired by the exhibition which took place at the Musée d`Orsay in Paris in January 2014; it displays works created when I moved to Sydney from Far North Queensland.
The female nude is commonplace in today’s society, while male nudity and sexuality remain less represented in every day images. In my opinion however, Sydney has a strong masculine dimension, and this feeling and my personal emotions triggered the inspiration for my new work. My sculptures express the human masculine body, its tensions, emotions, and challenges.
The first series “Conquering Barriers’ is autobiographical; it relates to the initial feelings of oppression I experienced in Sydney. It is about the struggle within one self, the mental walls and obstacles one has to conquer to adapt to new challenges and radical change. This series is in mixed media: waxed carved plaster and Carrara marble figures, attached or assembled to rusted steal pieces. The second series “Dancers” is inspired by a recent dance performance by the Bangarra Dance company at the Sydney Opera House in June 2015. These small rough sculptures, modelled in clay, are spontaneous, twisted and fragmented male bodies, expressions of the continuous search for the right instant, the right balance and the right emotion, in art creation as well as in life.
Rainer Schlueter (MBA and Engineer, Free University – Brussels) graduated in fine arts at the Belgium Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. He has exhibited in Belgium, France and Italy, mostly sculptures in marble, granite and basalt stone. On moving to Port Douglas Australia in July 2011 he became a full time professional sculptor. Inspired by the tropics his medium became wood and fibre – often painted – from the surrounding beach and rainforest environment. His work evolved from small to medium scale projects to monumental sculpture groups and outdoor installations. For his large scale sculpture group "Blue Dancers" he received the Artist Award for Excellence at “Ephemera”, the 2013 Biennial Sculpture Festival in Townsville, Queensland. He moved to Sydney in mid-March 2015, and has a studio in the SQ1 artists' space. He has since begun a new series of small figurative sculptures in mixed media using plaster, clay and steel.
The female nude is commonplace in today’s society, while male nudity and sexuality remain less represented in every day images. In my opinion however, Sydney has a strong masculine dimension, and this feeling and my personal emotions triggered the inspiration for my new work. My sculptures express the human masculine body, its tensions, emotions, and challenges.
The first series “Conquering Barriers’ is autobiographical; it relates to the initial feelings of oppression I experienced in Sydney. It is about the struggle within one self, the mental walls and obstacles one has to conquer to adapt to new challenges and radical change. This series is in mixed media: waxed carved plaster and Carrara marble figures, attached or assembled to rusted steal pieces. The second series “Dancers” is inspired by a recent dance performance by the Bangarra Dance company at the Sydney Opera House in June 2015. These small rough sculptures, modelled in clay, are spontaneous, twisted and fragmented male bodies, expressions of the continuous search for the right instant, the right balance and the right emotion, in art creation as well as in life.
Rainer Schlueter (MBA and Engineer, Free University – Brussels) graduated in fine arts at the Belgium Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels. He has exhibited in Belgium, France and Italy, mostly sculptures in marble, granite and basalt stone. On moving to Port Douglas Australia in July 2011 he became a full time professional sculptor. Inspired by the tropics his medium became wood and fibre – often painted – from the surrounding beach and rainforest environment. His work evolved from small to medium scale projects to monumental sculpture groups and outdoor installations. For his large scale sculpture group "Blue Dancers" he received the Artist Award for Excellence at “Ephemera”, the 2013 Biennial Sculpture Festival in Townsville, Queensland. He moved to Sydney in mid-March 2015, and has a studio in the SQ1 artists' space. He has since begun a new series of small figurative sculptures in mixed media using plaster, clay and steel.
