STEFAN RINCK
Name: Stefan Rinck
Age: 47
Birthplace: Homburg, Germany
Home: Berlin, Germany
Discipline: Sculpture
Squatting Ichneumon, 2018, Limestone, photo by M. Kolb
What is your background?
I grew up in an artist family. My mother was an art teacher and my father taught literature, history and politics. I joined the drawing course my mother gave, and visited the exhibitions of the art center she was also a part of. In our house, I was surrounded by many books, so I spent time studying them. After school, I made an apprenticeship at the local stonemason, and after studying one year philosophy and art history, I got accepted at the Art Academy in Karlsruhe to study within their sculpture department.
What are the main topics you deal with in your work?
I am interested in the return of archaic and animistic world views, as well as the connection between the Archaic and Modernism in art.
How do you define your artistic search and practice in three words?
Transforming spirit (into) material.
Which techniques do you use to create?
I like to sketch, model and carve.
How do you consider your work in relation to current societal issues?
I would describe my relation to the current streams as passive resistance. I consider the sculptures as standing on the shore and just watching the streams.
What kind of approach towards ‘aesthetics’ does your work provide?
I would say it is a brutalist approach. The sensual perception of stone sculptures could also be physical. It can be evoked by the monumental character of stone, its weight and power. The stone has a certain resistance towards an attempt to charge it with emotions. Between the resistance of the material and the intention of the artist lies the aesthetic approach.
What kind of beauty does your work focus on?
The beauty of not being beautiful.
What does being an artist mean in your opinion today?
An artist is somebody who communicates, someone who keeps the collective subconscious alive.
What is the message you want to deliver with your work?
Emotions and feelings are conserved in stone. The idea is to carry on what has been delivered by the past and charge it with the spirit of today. It’s about digging freely what has almost been forgotten and giving it a new life.
Scream for Modernity, 2021, Diabase, photo by M. Kolb