In Thomas Röthel's open-air studio in Mitteldachstetten, unusual steel sculptures are created with the help of steel, gas burners, telescopic loaders and a team of helpers.
We accompanied the artist during the creation of his sculptures.
Thomas Röthel: Sculptures
With fire to sculpture
In Thomas Röthel's sculptures are created under heat and with real manual labor. The artist uses a cutting torch to make cuts in several interconnected steel plates. The cut edges are then exposed to extremely high temperatures.
As soon as the material is red-hot, the cut steel stele is pulled apart and twisted in on itself with a telescopic loader and a huge lever.
The cut steel beams can reach up to seven meters into the sky, but Röthel also regularly produces small figures.
About the Artist
After training as a wood sculptor, Thomas Röthel (*1969 in Ansbach / Middle Franconia) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg and became a master student in 1995. In the same year he began to develop his striking steel sculptures. After the material has cooled, carefully placed cuts, refined bends and twists of the uniformly red-hot steel create objects that seem to defy gravity and radiate an almost graceful lightness in contrast to the unyielding material.
Röthel's conceptual approach and his virtuoso handling of solid steel give rise to artistic forms in which dynamics and tranquility merge and are thus made tangible in a fascinating way.
Found: 5
