Torre Alfina, Orvieto, Italien  2006

FRANZ F. WOERLE - SCULPTURES

Clear lines and the concentration on the essential characterize the work of the sculptor Franz F. Woerle. His sculptures express contradictions which are full of suspense and very impressive.

In his sculptures Franz F. Woerle puts together abstract geometrical forms to stereometric bodies whose sharp outlines cut through the room  and define the body and  the surrounding room at the same time. The sharpness of the outlines is, however, eased where the edges of the welded iron parts look frayed and corroded

Kasbah 2004

The impression of contrast is supported by the material used by Woerle: Iron as a natural material needs to be techni- cally worked at by man before the artist can use it as a lasting raw material. By applying oxidizing acids the artist starts
a process which nature  will continue without him and which will change,  maybe even destroy his work.  What appears stable and unchangeable at first sight reveals itself as vulnerable and unstable.

The rust   which develops  through the oxygen of the air  changes the iron's smooth surface  into a poious and breathing surface, the cold metal is covered by a warm color. The relaitionship between duration and transitoriness reverses, and what can be seen as a danger to duraibility and continuance is at the same time an expression of life and a natural process whose nature is change.

Franz F. Woerle therefore on the one hand keeps up the tradition of constructivism which used industrial materials and engineering technics and created abstract stereometric sculptures.

It is, however, unlike the constructivists of the first third of the 20th century not his aim to find an equivalent expression of the new world run by mathematics and technology.

But that this world and the intermediate position of the human being in it is questioned by Franz F. Woerle is not only apparent by his purposely doing away with the perfection of straight lines and smooth surfaces.

Woerle's sculptures rarely exceed the human dimension and also their vertical direction alludes to the human being. The sculptures concentrate on two subjects which are closely related to each other.

This is for one the group of the "Steles" - mostly upright prisms which open at the top. These sculptures at first sight give the impression of a steady consistency.

Only when walking around the spectator sees the opening

Seelenhaus Klinikum Ebersberg 2008

Museum Moderner Kunst Passau 2003

The sculptures thus give the impression of spellbound movement which leaves the spectator-with a feeling of insecurity. Gates separate and open rooms and are walked through in time. The passing of a gate, the changing from one room to another, can also be the change from one state of mind to another.

lt is the dialectic of stability and vulnerability, duration and transitoriness, geometric abstraction and reference to the natural which distinguishes the sculptures of Franz F. Woerle.

Doppelstele, Meggen / Luzern

Copyright 2020 by Franz F. Wörle, Bildhauer