The sculptor Kurt Arentz receivescongratulations at a recent exhibition of his works in Bonn from theWest German Secretary of Defense Dr. Manfred Wörner and his wifeElfie, who is very active in the Bonn art circles.
From the dawn of civilization, imposing cavepaintings have survived to testify to Man's creative will,immortalized in these representations of human and animal figures,the agents of his conscious perception of subject and object. Theseancient artists, lost to anonymity, were the first to use the mediumof painting to perform a mythical act of creation, still aspired atby every artist in every work of art since.
The sculptor, Kurt Arentz, had chosen the theme ofanimals, alongside a number of other portraits, to be the permanenttheme of his artistic self expression. In his comprehensivecollection of plastic works of art we find, not only all theimportant animal species common to Europe, but also some of a moreexotic nature. With his wide-ranging representation of animal life,Arentz is continuing the tradition, which started in the 19th centuryand has, since then, become more and more crystallized, of Europeananimal sculptors.
In contrast to Ewald Mataré, who, in answerto August Gaul, developed an abstract language of shapes, Arentzremains true to the heritage of traditional sculpture. He acts as astimulus to the contemporary sculptors; his work underlines hisbelief that concrete sculpture is able to formulate a positive replyto looming chaos, despite the drastic destruction of our environment.Arentz accentuates the plasticity of his work by refusing to give hisanimals' coats a smooth finish: a kind of surface expressionism. Thisrough texturing emphasizes the unrestrained vitality of hissubjects.
Arentz's figures, sculptured in wax and later castin bronze, convey the typical characteristics of each species as wellas an overriding innocence born of Nature. Kurt Arentz's work is thusan expression of the creative energy of the cosmos.