In spite of the fact that steel is generally considered as rough and austere, Pieter Obels’ sculptures seem to be controverting the intrinsic possibilities of the material. When one looks at Richard Serra’s monumental steel slabs and wonder at the curves he manages to give his material, feelings of huge weight, size and strength arise.
Pieter Obels works with Corten steel, yet what his works convey above all is light and grace as he bends the steel into extraordinarily delicate and winding shapes. The two artistic worlds couldn’t be further apart. It is almost as if we were watching the yin and yang of the same material.
Through a clever interplay of rigidity and dynamism, Obels work occupies a space deftly lingering between a sense of weight and weightlessness. His sculptures completely confound our perceptions of how a steel sculpture should look like and behave. The bends in the work appear to defy what the material can be persuaded to do.
Obels aim is to create totally organic forms with an extreme yet somehow innate sense of plasticity. This sense of a natural rhythm makes his sculptures sit with a total oneness in any natural surrounding. Rather than imposing themselves over where they are placed they appear to mirror the soft edges and harmoniousness often evident in nature. Notwithstanding the apparently cold material, the curves of the form and the rusty brown colour of their oxidization enable them to create a bond with the surrounding ambient.
Working alone without assistants, Obels has, however, permitted this aspect to dominate his works at same time as he emphasized the elegiac quality that they possess. Although totally contemporary, there is a strong wistfulness for a bygone age which favoured poetry over power and fragility and balance over industrial noise. The sense of a precarious balance which many of his works have, play beautifully with the apparent contradiction inherent in his material.
His works echo the world we would like to inhabit; a world dominated by beauty and awareness of nature. The curve as opposed to the straight line recalls a gentler, less severe universe where objects embrace and do not repel, where dialogue is always possible and agreement is always found.
Ian Rosenfeld
Rosenfeld Gallery, London UK
lebt und arbeitet in Tilburg, NL
geboren in Kriusland, NL
Academy od Fine Arts, Tilburg, NL
Gemeente Roosendaal (NL)
CAMLOG, Wimsheim (D) Nyenrode business Universiteit, Breukelen (NL)
Bad Ragaz (CH) Gemeente Bergen op Zoom (NL) Westfriesgasthuis, Hoorn (NL)
Achmea, Utrecht (NL)
Woonwenz, Venlo (NL)
gemeente Spijkenisse (NL)
Infinite in all directions, GALERIE FREY, WIEN
Unlimited Impossibilities, GALERIE FREY, SALZBURG
Untitled Art-Fair, Miami (USA)
Materiality, Rosenfeldporcini Gallery, London (GB)
Biennale Le Latitudini dell'Arte, Genova (I)
Volta art-Fair Basel, (CH)
Galerie Roger Katwijk, Amsterdam (NL)
Chateau Vullierens (CH)
PAN Amsterdam, galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk (NL)
Schweizerische Triennale der Skulptur, Bad Ragaz,& Vaduz (CH)
Art Rotterdam (NL)
Pan Amsterdam (NL)
Raakvlakken, Beelden in Leiden (NL)
Galerie Roger Katwijk, Amsterdam (NL)
Galerie Obrist, Essen (D)
Art in Oisterwijk (NL)
Soho Square garden, Londen (GB)
PAN Amsterdam, galerie roger Katwijk(NL)
Gallery Rosenfeldporcini London (GB)
YIA-art-fair , Brussels (B)
Hotel Rosewood, Londen (GB)
PAN, Amsterdam, Art-fair (NL)
Gouverneurshuis, Heusden (NL)
Schweizerische Triennale der Skulptur, Bad Ragaz,& Vaduz (CH)
Symposion, Gorinchem (NL)
The-Solo-Project , art-fair , Basel (CH)
Solo-exhibition , Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk(NL)
Pan Amsterdam, galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
MOOVE, concordia, Enschede (NL)
The-Solo-Project, Basel (CH)
kunstRAI , Amsterdam(NL)
Galerie Roger katwijk, Amsterdam(NL)
PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
Preview Berlin, galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
MOOOV, Villa Zebra, Rotterdam (NL)
Kunstruimte KuuB, Utrecht (NL)
Schlosspark Köln-Stammheim (D)
Skulpturenpark Gűnzburg (D)
Art-Warehouse, Rotterdam, Galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
Kunst am Strand, Sylt, Rantum (D)
Incubate, open source Expo, Tilburg (NL)
Oisterwijk Sculptuur, Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk (NL)
KunstRAI Amsterdam, Galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
Galerie Roger Katwijk, Amsterdam (NL)
PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
Galerie Roger Katwijk, Amsterdam, (NL)
Etienne Gallery Oisterwijk (NL)
Artantique, Utrecht, Galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
Diversity in practice, Gurgliasco/Torino (IT)
Beeldenboulevard, Terneuzen (NL)
Galerie Roger Katwijk Amsterdam (NL)
Re-Cycle, Kasteel Museum Sypesteyn, Loosdrecht (NL)Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk (NL)
PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
Kunstroute Ijhorst de Wijk (NL)
Oisterwijk Sculptuur, Oisterwijk (NL)Etienne Gallery, Oisterwijk (NL)
PAN Amsterdam, galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
Galerie Roger Katwijk, Amsterdam (NL)
Galerie Etienne van den Doel, Oisterwijk (NL)
Art-Amsterdam, Galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Roger Katwijk (NL)
Oisterwijk Sculptuur, Galerie Etienne van den Doel (NL)
Galerie Jose de Ibarra, Barcelona (ES)
Galerie Roger Katwijk, Amsterdam (NL)
Art-Amsterdam Galerie Krijger + Katwijk, Amsterdam (NL)
PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Krijger + Katwijk, Amsterdam (NL)
Galerie Interart, Heeswijk-Dinther (NL)
Galerie de Blauwe Roos, Burum (NL)
ART Amsterdam Galerie Jörg Hasenbach, Cape-Town (NL)
PAN Amsterdam Galerie Jörg Hasenbach,Antwerp (NL)
ART Cologne, Köln, Galerie Jörg Hasenbach, Antwerp (D)
Textiel museum, Tilburg (NL)
Galerie Jörg Hasenbach, Antwerpen (B)
Art-Amsterdam, Galerie Vromans, Amsterdam (NL)
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