Events

‘My intention through my works is to achieve a condition which is ambiguous allowing many interpretations in many directions.’

– Georg Herold, 2005

In his recent large-scale bronze sculptures Georg Herold presents two elongated figures engaged in a lyrical dance. Both executed in 2022, the figures appear to leap and twirl, their seeming lightness and poise juxtaposed against the reality of their weighty physicality. With its unmistakably female form, the dancer stands with legs crossed and arms outstretched, the textured and patinated surface revealing variegated hues of turquoise flecked with charcoal grey. The other figure balances gracefully on one foot, hands thrown towards the sky, as if lost in the blissful exaltation of movement. Coated in white and blue lacquer, its smooth, shiny form glistens in the natural light. Dynamic and playful, their spirited gestures seem to invite the viewer to join in their rapture.

Each rendered on a towering scale, the works engage with and challenge the history of sculpture from antiquity through to Surrealism, as much as the isolated figures of Alberto Giacometti. Wryly subverting the pathos, symbolism and gravity of the canon of art history, the works are at once playful yet profound, reductive yet mystifying. As the art historian Armin Zweite aptly states, ‘Herold‘s forms seem strange and yet familiar at the same time’.