Stefan Szczesny
Encyclopedia
Stefan Szczesny is a German
painter
, draughtsman
, and sculptor
.
He is best known for co-founding the Junge Wilde
movement by, among other things, organizing the exhibition "Rundschau Deutschland" in 1981. Two of his most famous works in the present years are the Mainau Island (2007) and his The Living Planet
for the Expo 2000
.
, and studied at the Academy of Fine Art, Munich from 1969-75. In 1975 he won a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service
, Paris.
Stefan Szczesny works in New York, Saint Tropez and Berlin.
Following an invitation from the World Wildlife Fund
and with support from Villeroy & Boch
in Mettlach
, Stefan Szczesny has used tile
s to create twelve murals for Expo 2000
in Hannover. The technical leadership of the program was handled by ceramicist Peter Thumm. Using as a basis the current WWF program "Global 200
" - which espouses the idea that intensive protection of 200 ecological core areas in the world would preserve 90% of its biological diversity - Stefan Szczesny has created his world map
of life.
The twelve murals are grouped in pairs on the front and back of supporting panels. Arranged in an oval shape, they enclose the WWF information pavilion
on the Expo grounds like a large, free-standing paravant. Tradition
and modernity
are intertwined. Inside the pavilion, in keeping with the theme of Expo 2000, the WWF utilizes state-of-the-art communications media to present its message the importance of protecting the environment and endangered species. The murals of Stefan Szczesny congenially link to the origins of our world of images, the hand-painted imagination of a subjective
view of the world.
Living Planet Square is situated between Halls 14 to 17. The murals are larger than life. Each of the walls, which are composed of individual 5 x 5 cm tiles, measures 330 x 830 cm, creating a mural more than 350 square meters in size. 137.008 individual tiles are joined to create twelve pictures The image of the "network of life," as postutated by the WWF in its message at the Expo, is mirrored in the intermeshed joining of parts, each of which in its specific location contributes its individual image information to create the complete whole. In this way, before visitors even ponder the content pictured, the contribution of Stefan Szczesny is already a parable/metaphor exemplifying the event and the message.
The painting technique with burned-in colors on tile is uniquely suited for largescale images in an exterior setting. The painting is scuff-resistant, weather-resistant and immune to frost. Thus, Stefan Szczesny's work confronts viewers with a traditional technique that must seem an anachronism in the context of global devotion to new, electronically-based virtual media. Finally, however, it is an actively expressed belief in the origin of all of our image worlds, the expressive imagination of each individual person. The picture imagined by the artist is a subjective view that can be communicated; an invitation to others to open their perception. The cross sum of Stefan Szczesnys murals at Expo 2000 is a kind of revolutionary poetry, in which opposites are unified without contradiction.
In its content and scenes, "The Living Planet Square" is a simultaneous networking of different image levels and storytelling structures. The basic pattern uniting all of the pictures is a world map. Divided into the five continents and - complemented in the sixth pair of pictures by Antarctica - it serves as a framework in both form and content.
The composition of the picture segments on the outer ring provide an introductory view from afar. Figures placed across large areas, densely packed like pictograms, give viewers a clear introduction to the message of the mural. The numbers on the world map indicate the ecological regions designated by the WWF for its "Global 200" program.
Stefan Szczesny has layered a second image level over this didactic information. They are large, bright areas of empty space, white shadows as it were, that often require a second look before the viewer can realize their message. In addition to numerous animals belonging to each topography, one sees many figurines whose origin are often easily - but sometimes only with difficulty - reconstructed. What they all have in common is an origin in major works of western art. These are loose quotations which create not only a formal, compositional relationship with the animals' outlines. For the artist, art and nature are in harmony.
Underlying this view is a hoIistic conception of life, nature and the world, which cannot be explained in rational terms. The artist's perspective is shaped by his interaction with the world, and he draws strength from this sensual approach. The positive experience of the world becomes an esthetic, artistic experience which Stefan Szczesny desires to pass along to the viewer in his language of images.
The third level of painting is composed of graphical elements. Black sithouette drawings which, analogous to the image level of blank white areas, along with typical examples of our earth's flora and fauna, merge with biographically motivated images and quotations from prominent artworks. Contrasting references to the world of technology, to urban environments, and to exploitation of resources are suggested. The world as an endangered paradise ? Stefan Szczesny's world view is in no way closed to the threats to our environment arising out of technological progress. Along with the oil tanker, the windmill stands as a paradigmatic note that technological development must not necessarily have a negative impact on the environment.
The panels on the inside of the longish oval are composed of smaller compositions which are more oriented towards telling stories and closer viewing. As on the outside, a strong blue tone dominates the panels. The continents seem to float on the world's oceans. Animals typical of each region populate the landmasses and give viewers a sense of the world and its inhabitants across all languages and borders, beyond political events of the day. Here the idea of art as a nonverbal, global language once again comes to life. The humans on this world map of life are present in the image of their technical achievements or in the parable image of a paradise-like coexistence in harmony with nature. Here also are numerous quotations from the well of themes of our western art history. In their image, the artist creates a temporal link from antiquity to our most current present, thus referring to the continuity of all creative forces throughout history.
Above all of this lies a series large portrait heads in a loose pattern, similar to an optical illusion. Here the artist has incorporated himself and his family into the picture. Thus the circle seems to close in the network of life, which should be conceived not in a nearsightedness stuck in each day, but across generations. Stefan Szczesny's contribution to Expo 2000 is somewhat of across sum of the body of his art to date, but not onty because of its formal size and the motives depicted.
This work is also an homage to life, to nature's beauty and many figured and color-intensive proof of a positive approach to life "One cannot create art with politics, but politics with art." These words of Theodor Heuss
come to mind when viewing these thematic panels by Stefan Szczesny, who without lifting the moralist's finger, manages with his contribution to point out that which matters to all of us. Respect for nature and life, perhaps less for us, but much more so for our children. His ceramic panels are also visible proof that art in our time need not be a phenomenon removed from society. Rather it is suited to awaken synergies, focus commitments, and proclaim common goals and messages to all people in a way both old and new.
The yearning for Arcadia and the dream of an earthly paradise
have always fascinated people. So it’s no wonder that this
yearning has also been a favorite subject for painters and poets.
Two great names in modern painting stand for this: Paul
Cézanne, with his bathers, and Henri Matisse, with his key
work “Luxe, Calme, et Volupté”.
Stefan Szczesny chose a whole island, Mainau, as the goal of
his artistic longing, by stylizing and transforming it into his
very personal, modern Arcadia. The island itself, embedded in
one of Europe’s most beautiful cultural landscapes, with its l
ush vegetation and an evening mood in the pale light, radiates
a paradisiacal calm and primal vibrancy. In this primeval
mood, Stefan Szczesny has placed his sculptures – silhouettes
of people, black, dark, enigmatic, accentuating the transparence
of the light even further. This statuary of cut out steel
is supplemented with hundreds of vases, on which nudes
seem to float away in a downright weightless state. On them
we find the archetypal signs and stylistic elements that recall
the genesis of art in the cave drawings in Cuevas de Altamira
and Lascaux. Here Stefan Szczesny repeatedly attempts to
capture old myths and to bring out what is original and essential
in them. Let’s not forget the tremendous fascination of the
Mediterranean landscape where the artist lives and works, the
dream of water, and the virility of fire in this landscape of
South France, which so strongly resembles that of Greece, and
where he puts Arcadian scenes on his vases. Burned earth,
purified by the consuming fire and the water-quenched embers,
all this suggests an unfalsified, primeval mood. Szczesny’s
art displays its allegiance to Primitivism, which generated the
great artistic transformations of the 20th centuries in the work
of Pablo Picasso. Szczesny’s inspiration thereby is more
spontaneous, direct, and lighthearted. He does not re-invent
Primitivism, but gives it a modern meaning with his ciphers and
abbreviations.
The connecting element between the mainland and the island –
the access to Arcadia, so to speak – is floatingly light and
transparent. The artist gave the 138-meter, glass-clad bridge a
filigree design with floral elements, fruits, and nudes, so that
one can cast a mysterious gaze upon the water, as well as on
the island.
The very color symbolism of the iconography that
the artist brought onto the glass in a prehistoric black, vegetative
green, and aquatic blue recalls an ancient paradisiacal
mood. Whoever sets a light foot on this bridge will find his way
to the sculptures, to flags waving in a suggested breeze, to
the iridescent light of the glass elements with their sharp, crystalline
reliefs, and to the haptic vases.
Stefan Szczesny’s great merit is to have subjected Mainau Island
to an artistic metamorphosis. The trademark of his art will
remain the ceramic vases, the sculptures, the ceramic wall, the
glass reliefs, and the newly designed entrance bridge. Under
Szczesny’s sure hand, Mainau has become a Gesamtkunstwerk
whose dimensions, artistic pluralism, and diversity of techniques
seek their match. To a natural paradise he has added his own,
humanly created one. Stefan Szczesny has invented Mainau
Island anew, given it new radiance, and with his artistic elements
placed ancient signs, traces of human creativity and design,
traces of the greatest human mystery, that of inspiration and its artistic expression.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, draughtsman
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
, and sculptor
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
.
He is best known for co-founding the Junge Wilde
Junge Wilde
The term Junge Wilde was originally applied to trends within the art world, and was only later used with reference to politics...
movement by, among other things, organizing the exhibition "Rundschau Deutschland" in 1981. Two of his most famous works in the present years are the Mainau Island (2007) and his The Living Planet
The Living Planet
The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 19 January 1984....
for the Expo 2000
Expo 2000
Expo 2000 was a World's Fair held in Hanover, Germany from Thursday, June 1 to Tuesday, October 31, 2000. It was located on the Hanover fairground , which is famous for hosting CeBIT...
.
Biography
Stefan Szczesny was born in 1951 in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, and studied at the Academy of Fine Art, Munich from 1969-75. In 1975 he won a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service
German Academic Exchange Service
The German Academic Exchange Service or DAAD is the largest German support organisation in the field of international academic co-operation....
, Paris.
- 1979 Städtische Gallerie at the LenbachhausLenbachhausThe Lenbachhaus in Munich houses an art museum and is part of Munich's "Kunstareal" .- The building :The Lenbachhaus was built as a Florentine-style villa for the painter Franz von Lenbach between 1887 and 1891 by Gabriel von Seidl...
, Munich - 1980 Scholarship and period of time at the Villa Romana, Florence
- 1981 Initiator and organizer of the exhibition "Rundschau Deutschland", Munich and Cologne
- 1982/83 Villa MassimoVilla MassimoVilla Massimo, short for Deutsche Akademie Rom Villa Massimo , is a German art institute in Rome, established in 1910 and located in the Villa Massimo....
scholarship and Rome Award - 1984 Metamorphoses, Glyptothek in Munich
- 1985-88 Publisher of the magazine "Malerei:Painting:Peinture"
- 1988 Rheinisches Landesmuseum, Bonn
- 1990 Kunstverein Augsburg (Augsburg Society of Art)
- 1990 Kunstverein Mannheim (Mannheim Society of Art)
- 1991 Idols, Kunstverein Heidelberg (Heidelberg Society of Art)
- 1992 Portraits, DuMont Kunsthalle, Cologne and Kunsthalle, Bremen
- 1993 Caribbean Style, Neue Galerie, Linz
- 1996 International Senelfeld Prize
- 1997 Exhibition of works 1975-1996 at Haus am Lützowplatz, Berlin
- 1997 Vases and Ceramic Vessels, Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe
- 1997 Sculptures and Ceramics, Gerhard-Marcks-Haus, Bremen
- 1998 Pictures of the Côte d'Azur, Kunsthalle Emden, Emden
- 1998 Museo del Grabado Español Contemporaneo, Marbella.
- 1999 Pictures of the Côte d'Azur, Museum für Moderne Kunst, Passau.
- 1999 Ceramics and Glass, Keramik Museum, Mettlach
- 1999 Painting on Photography, Fondazione Levi, Venice
- 2000 World Map of Life, 12 large-format ceramic murals, commissioned by WWF for the EXPO 2000Expo 2000Expo 2000 was a World's Fair held in Hanover, Germany from Thursday, June 1 to Tuesday, October 31, 2000. It was located on the Hanover fairground , which is famous for hosting CeBIT...
World Exhibition, Hanover - 2001 Painting Meets Photography, Städtische Galerie Villa Dessauer, Bamberg
- 2001 Luxe, Calme et Volupté … ou la joie de vivre, La Malmaison Cannes Szczesny Artrium, Geneva
- 2002 Una fiesta para los ojos, Casa de la Provincia, Seville
- 2002 Premiere of “Szczesny - The Film”, Faudon Movies New York, at the 55th Cannes Film Festival
- 2003 A Feast for the Eye, Gustav-Lübcke-Museum, Hamm
- 2003 Méditerranée - L'Esthétique du Sud, Salle Jean Despace, Saint Tropez
- 2004 Mediterráneo, Ses Voltes Centro Contemporaneo, Palma de Mallorca
- 2005 Images érotiques, Kunsthalle Mannheim
- 2006 Shadow Sculptures, Saint Tropez
- 2007 Mainau Island Art project: Szczesny - A dream of an Earthly paradise
- 2008 "A trip to sensuallity", Airport Stuttgart; Sculptures d'ombre, Grimaud, MME-Event, Berlin, Tegernsee-Event, Tegernsee, Sternberg Lounge, Drupa Heidelberg
- 2009/2010 Shadow Sculptures, Hotel Biltmore Coral Gables, Miami
- 2010 Shadow Sculptures, Convention Center, Palm Beach
Stefan Szczesny works in New York, Saint Tropez and Berlin.
The Living Planet
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
and with support from Villeroy & Boch
Villeroy & Boch
Villeroy & Boch is a large manufacturer of ceramics with the company headquarters located in Mettlach, Germany.-Company history:The company began in the tiny French village of Audun le Tiche, where François Boch set up a pottery company with his three sons in 1748. Later, the company moved to...
in Mettlach
Mettlach
Mettlach is a municipality in the district Merzig-Wadern, in Saarland, Germany. It is situated on the river Saar, approx. 7 km northwest of Merzig, and 30 km south of Trier.Villeroy & Boch's headquarters are in Mettlach....
, Stefan Szczesny has used tile
Tile
A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops...
s to create twelve murals for Expo 2000
Expo 2000
Expo 2000 was a World's Fair held in Hanover, Germany from Thursday, June 1 to Tuesday, October 31, 2000. It was located on the Hanover fairground , which is famous for hosting CeBIT...
in Hannover. The technical leadership of the program was handled by ceramicist Peter Thumm. Using as a basis the current WWF program "Global 200
Global 200
The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wildlife Fund as priorities for conservation. According to the WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or water containing a characteristic set of natural communities that share a large majority of their...
" - which espouses the idea that intensive protection of 200 ecological core areas in the world would preserve 90% of its biological diversity - Stefan Szczesny has created his world map
Map
A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....
of life.
The twelve murals are grouped in pairs on the front and back of supporting panels. Arranged in an oval shape, they enclose the WWF information pavilion
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
on the Expo grounds like a large, free-standing paravant. Tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
and modernity
Modernity
Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...
are intertwined. Inside the pavilion, in keeping with the theme of Expo 2000, the WWF utilizes state-of-the-art communications media to present its message the importance of protecting the environment and endangered species. The murals of Stefan Szczesny congenially link to the origins of our world of images, the hand-painted imagination of a subjective
Subjectivity
Subjectivity refers to the subject and his or her perspective, feelings, beliefs, and desires. In philosophy, the term is usually contrasted with objectivity.-Qualia:...
view of the world.
Living Planet Square is situated between Halls 14 to 17. The murals are larger than life. Each of the walls, which are composed of individual 5 x 5 cm tiles, measures 330 x 830 cm, creating a mural more than 350 square meters in size. 137.008 individual tiles are joined to create twelve pictures The image of the "network of life," as postutated by the WWF in its message at the Expo, is mirrored in the intermeshed joining of parts, each of which in its specific location contributes its individual image information to create the complete whole. In this way, before visitors even ponder the content pictured, the contribution of Stefan Szczesny is already a parable/metaphor exemplifying the event and the message.
In its content and scenes, "The Living Planet Square" is a simultaneous networking of different image levels and storytelling structures. The basic pattern uniting all of the pictures is a world map. Divided into the five continents and - complemented in the sixth pair of pictures by Antarctica - it serves as a framework in both form and content.
The composition of the picture segments on the outer ring provide an introductory view from afar. Figures placed across large areas, densely packed like pictograms, give viewers a clear introduction to the message of the mural. The numbers on the world map indicate the ecological regions designated by the WWF for its "Global 200" program.
Stefan Szczesny has layered a second image level over this didactic information. They are large, bright areas of empty space, white shadows as it were, that often require a second look before the viewer can realize their message. In addition to numerous animals belonging to each topography, one sees many figurines whose origin are often easily - but sometimes only with difficulty - reconstructed. What they all have in common is an origin in major works of western art. These are loose quotations which create not only a formal, compositional relationship with the animals' outlines. For the artist, art and nature are in harmony.
Theodor Heuss
Theodor Heuss was a liberal German politician who served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany after World War II from 1949 to 1959...
come to mind when viewing these thematic panels by Stefan Szczesny, who without lifting the moralist's finger, manages with his contribution to point out that which matters to all of us. Respect for nature and life, perhaps less for us, but much more so for our children. His ceramic panels are also visible proof that art in our time need not be a phenomenon removed from society. Rather it is suited to awaken synergies, focus commitments, and proclaim common goals and messages to all people in a way both old and new.
Mainau Island
A Dream of Earthly ParadiseThe yearning for Arcadia and the dream of an earthly paradise
have always fascinated people. So it’s no wonder that this
yearning has also been a favorite subject for painters and poets.
Two great names in modern painting stand for this: Paul
Cézanne, with his bathers, and Henri Matisse, with his key
work “Luxe, Calme, et Volupté”.
his artistic longing, by stylizing and transforming it into his
very personal, modern Arcadia. The island itself, embedded in
one of Europe’s most beautiful cultural landscapes, with its l
ush vegetation and an evening mood in the pale light, radiates
a paradisiacal calm and primal vibrancy. In this primeval
mood, Stefan Szczesny has placed his sculptures – silhouettes
of people, black, dark, enigmatic, accentuating the transparence
of the light even further. This statuary of cut out steel
is supplemented with hundreds of vases, on which nudes
seem to float away in a downright weightless state. On them
we find the archetypal signs and stylistic elements that recall
the genesis of art in the cave drawings in Cuevas de Altamira
and Lascaux. Here Stefan Szczesny repeatedly attempts to
capture old myths and to bring out what is original and essential
in them. Let’s not forget the tremendous fascination of the
Mediterranean landscape where the artist lives and works, the
dream of water, and the virility of fire in this landscape of
South France, which so strongly resembles that of Greece, and
where he puts Arcadian scenes on his vases. Burned earth,
purified by the consuming fire and the water-quenched embers,
all this suggests an unfalsified, primeval mood. Szczesny’s
art displays its allegiance to Primitivism, which generated the
great artistic transformations of the 20th centuries in the work
of Pablo Picasso. Szczesny’s inspiration thereby is more
spontaneous, direct, and lighthearted. He does not re-invent
Primitivism, but gives it a modern meaning with his ciphers and
abbreviations.
The connecting element between the mainland and the island –
the access to Arcadia, so to speak – is floatingly light and
transparent. The artist gave the 138-meter, glass-clad bridge a
filigree design with floral elements, fruits, and nudes, so that
one can cast a mysterious gaze upon the water, as well as on
the island.
The very color symbolism of the iconography that
the artist brought onto the glass in a prehistoric black, vegetative
green, and aquatic blue recalls an ancient paradisiacal
mood. Whoever sets a light foot on this bridge will find his way
to the sculptures, to flags waving in a suggested breeze, to
the iridescent light of the glass elements with their sharp, crystalline
reliefs, and to the haptic vases.
Stefan Szczesny’s great merit is to have subjected Mainau Island
to an artistic metamorphosis. The trademark of his art will
remain the ceramic vases, the sculptures, the ceramic wall, the
glass reliefs, and the newly designed entrance bridge. Under
Szczesny’s sure hand, Mainau has become a Gesamtkunstwerk
whose dimensions, artistic pluralism, and diversity of techniques
seek their match. To a natural paradise he has added his own,
humanly created one. Stefan Szczesny has invented Mainau
Island anew, given it new radiance, and with his artistic elements
placed ancient signs, traces of human creativity and design,
traces of the greatest human mystery, that of inspiration and its artistic expression.
External links
- http://www.stefan-szczesny.com
- http://www.szczesnyfactory.com
- http://www.mainau.de/htdocs/en/start.htm
- http://www.expo2000.de/expo2000/index_e.htm
- http://www.architecture-art-szczesny.com
- http://www.fashion-art-szczesny.com
- http://www.flamenco-art-szczesny.com
- http://www.mustique-art-szczesny.com
- http://www.st-tropez-art-szczesny.com
- http://www.yacht-art-szczesny.com
- http://www.zeppelin-art-szczesny.com
- Stefan Szczesny on artnet