Concrete is the sculptor’s preferred material Friedemann Grieshaber. He completed his studies in Stuttgart and Berlin, and graduated from the University of the Arts in Berlin as a master student. Grieshaber received several grants and awards. He currently teaches sculpture at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weissensee. In addition to the large galleries in Germany, Grieshaber was able to realize exhibitions in France and Switzerland. His works can be found in large collections, for example in the Lothar Fischer Museum, in the German Bundestag, in the Federal Ministry of Education and in the Museum of Fine Arts in Dresden.
“It depends on what you make of it,” advertises the concrete industry. Friedemann Grieshabers, for example, makes larger-than-life figures out of it.
(Photo: oh)
Mr. Grieshaber, what appeals to an artist who puts together international exhibitions in the small town of Altomünster in Upper Bavaria?
Friedemann Grieshaber: I was asked by Bernd Schwarting if I would like to take part in an artist symposium in Altomünster and I found the idea attractive. I know the area around Altomünster a bit, in Fürstenfeldbruck I have already done an exhibition with colleagues. I know Bernd Schwarting from the art academy in Berlin, he studied painting there, I sculpture. By the way, artistic work in a metropolis or in a rural area is not a contradiction from an artistic point of view, my exhibition activities abroad are also manageable.
Do you already know where and at which plant you want to work there?
I have to see how the situation is on site, as far as I know there are several places where we can do something. The concrete I work with first has to be poured into molds, the concrete needs at least a week to harden. Time is a bit tight for my sculptures. I will definitely bring something that I have already prepared. In the remaining time I could start with another mold, build it and see how far I can get with it, it’s a bit process dependent. The environment will certainly not play such a big role in my work, I’m not a landscape painter. Art is also not an immediate reflex, a work builds something that sometimes, if at all, you only understand what it really is in retrospect.
Most artists are not used to being watched at work. How about you, doesn’t that bother you?
Oh, I don’t even know if there will be that many people, and there are times when no one is watching. And when you start talking to people, you can sometimes explain something based on your work. I don’t think that’s bad, it might be good for me too, because it gives you the opportunity to rethink some things in the conversation.
What question do you get asked most frequently as an artist? And what do you answer then?
Good question… I sometimes work with house shapes: a very strict geometric combination of cube and wedge. The question often arises: Why these house shapes? And I have to say: This is a secret for me that I haven’t quite fathomed yet. I believe it is a symbolic form that offers a kind of projection surface for every viewer, everyone sees something different in it. It’s also the case that I like to develop a figure based on elements of the shape of a house: by piling up several houses, a new formal structure emerges, which can also have figurative traits to some extent.
The artist symposium will take place from August 8th to 13th in Altomünster.