Willi Weiner: Is the German sculptor a concept artist or playful child-adult?

"Amphoras (Beziehungsweise Amphoren)" by Willi Weiner Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

Tipped on its side (hypothetically), sculptor Willi Weiner´s “Beziehungsweise Amphoren” at Art on Lake in Budapest looks like two rusty metal, outsized amphora mating.

They are vertical.

Is Stutgart born and based Weiner (b. 1954) a concept artist or primarily a playful adult-child let loose on a world of available materials, armed with an imagination and color palette to excite and confront?

Weiner joined 24 other European Union contemporary artists and sculptors to exhibit from 22 May to 4 September in Art on Lake, organized by the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest.

The title to his amphora moored at City Park Lake in central Budapest may only be understood by German poets, suggests curators in earlier literature describing his work.

It created an apparent conundrum for Art on Lake curators Krisztina Jerger, Alexander Tolnay and Peter Fitz.

Is this concept art, two Corten steel, welded tight at the hip, amphora, and what if anything do they represent?

One interpretation: His is a play of words creating double meaning, one of the curators wrote in earlier literature. 

“On the one hand, these wine and oil jars have by now become unusable, and on the other, they are inseparably entwined.”

Weiner, who like the Dutch, has a thing about water, must have jumped at the opportunity to plant his work in City Park Lake.

“Placing the object in water generates associations between the work of art and the history of the amphora, and the eternal form is given a new, modern and – being of welded metal sheets – almost industrial appearance,” according to the show´s catalogue released this month.

Weiner, with six solo and 12 group shows (according to ArtFacts.net) “…transforms the industrial raw material into statues of expressive force, and his ideas assume a poetic character through intellectual playfulness,” according to earlier literature on Art on Lake.

If you look at his works (Google images), you will see he dabbles in all kinds of materials, never short of ideas.

The artist worked on scholarships at Villa Romana in Forence and Saitama in Japan, heavily influencing his choice of materials.

Weiner exhibits primarily in Germany. He has one previous show in Hungary.

As well as a sculptor, he is a draughtsman and has exhibited his drawings, although known primarily for his sculptural works.

"Amphora" by Willi Weiner at Art on Lake Photograph by Stefan van Drake (2011)

Rock on and practice peace and love.

Stefan, the ArtTraveler ™

ArtTraveler notes:

After living at the Hotel Queen Mary in Budapest (3.5 stars), I heartily recommend it: old on the outside, otherwise totally modern (23 rooms); 

The owner and staff are affable and speak English and German. Tel: 0036-1-413-3510; www.hotelqueenmary.hu; info@hotelqueenmary.hu.

Visit Andalusia for a walking holiday or week-long sculpture or mosaics workshop. 

See: www.spanjeanders.nl and www.competafinearts.com.

"Spanish Life Stilled," photograph by Stefan van Drake (2009)

You may reach me at stefanvandrake@gmail.com or by calling (34) 915 067 703 or from the UK at BT landline rates, 0844 774 8349.