Rudolf Henninger

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artist statement

The features of my work are more classic-modern. Inspired by the Italian Renaissance, the human figure has always fascinated me. Fulfilled years of intensive architectural work brought me valuable fundamental perceptions in the figurative process, as well as the coalescence of the abstract and the concrete. I prefer the direct carving technique to the modelling tradition. It challenges my  spontaneity and allows a more aesthetic, natural approach to the material being developed. While cutting steel, I believe that steel is a sign for modern sculpture itself, and this has also come to reflect on my work with stone. By experimenting with the poetics of materiality, I have also come to interconnect my metal and stone sculptures in form and shape. The primary principles for my work are: strong emphasis on form, elimination of all unnecessary details, clear edges, clear surfaces, well-balanced shape, a trace of dynamics and power. With my aesthetic ideals, such as harmony, vitalism, eternity, and mystic, I wish to underline the emotive potentialities of my work.  My images have become particularly fertile in that they mediate between Nova Scotia and Germany. This allows an interchange of impressions and emotional forces of different roots. Taking advantage of all possibilities, I especially enjoy spontaneous work with material that offers a certain amount of resistance. The excitement that lies in this challenge, in which I strive to seek a point of rest and stability in the sculptural features and the workmanship, is characteristic for my work.

selected biography

Rudolf Henninger was born 1944 in Thorn, Poland, and grew up in Nuremberg, Germany. He completed his study of architecture in 1967 and continued to perform his active professional career as an architect. The collaborating forces between architect and artist were always integrated in his work. Structuring and segmenting buildings into their vital parts was also at the root of his three-dimensional and geometric practice. In the course of his career, Rudolf Henninger turned more and more towards his artistic projects. This included taking specialized courses in stone carving and steel welding. In the year 2000 he established an art studio in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to carve stone and in Germany to create steel sculptures. He is based at both localities part-time.

Participation at following group exhibitions:

“Hands Dancing” Inverness Centre of the Arts, Nova Scotia, Canada, July 2003, 2004 and 2005
“Loveland Sculpture Invitational Show”, Loveland,Colorado, USA, August 2003
Gallery Landskron-Schneidzig, Nueremberg, Germany, July 2005
Participation at the 1rst Atlantic Stone Carving Symposium 2005 in Inverness Nova Scotia, as one of 8 Canadian artists.

Solo Show:
“Kraft-Kunst-Werk” May 2004, Kraftwerk Franken II, Germany

Media:
Various German newspaper articles, Various artist portraits at German TV-channels:
“Capriccio” March 2005
Franken-Schau, April 2005
Franconian TV: September 2005