Art

That together with his passion for wine resulted in what is currently Quinta dos Vales – an absolutely unique wine estate with hundreds of colourful sculptures in an open-air exhibition. The idea behind these art pieces is simple and complex at the same time. Art should have, in principle, no limits; neither political nor cultural, allowing the expression of ideas which would not have been possible in less democratic societies. In this respect art has, and always had, an important social and political role. It crosses borders without asking for permission, it makes the impossible become possible, it creates a link between nations, it allows a common language without words, it does not know friends or enemies and is not limited by gravity, logic or man made limitations. This ability of creative freedom develops an immense output of creativity during the process of creation itself but also later in the communication with observers. It opens the mind. Neither artist nor observer need to meet. It is also not a necessity that art is to the liking of all viewers. Artists are regular human beings and certainly hope that their pieces will find a positive feedback from critics as well as the audience. But even if this does not take place and an art piece is disliked, it does have its right of existence as it has created an interaction. Much worse would be a neutral reaction as it would mean the artist would not have achieved his goal: to reach others and enter into communication, transmitting the message.

The ideas behind the sculptural work are the same which drive the evolution of wine: both are linked to the traditional but also explore new experiences, limits and directions.

This huge sculpture-painting which occupies nearly 100 m3 for space focuses on unity and diversity of our planet among the five continents, not only educating us to the various ways of life, but awakening us to the sustainability and global environmental situation through the eyes of 12 multicultural artists who joined Karl Heinz Stock to implement this project. Given the complex engineering required to produce the sculptures, the project was sub-divided into two parts, one with the five continents with a diameter of 165 cm each, and another with the 15 spheres measuring 120 cm in diameter. Working with a number of artists is always a big challenge as lastly one art piece has to be created. However the most complicated part of this composition was indeed the engineering project; how to find a way to install the inner rings with the globes already in place, and only then install the outer rings.?Once the outer rings were in place, the steel cables could be attached to the inner and outer rings.

The inner ring supports could then be removed and the structure would remain balanced. Sounds easy, but it required numerous hours of brainstorming, model building, and micro-tuning. The technical difficulties were - as always - a little greater than originally anticipated.

While the driving element behind the bear project is also uniting, it was not intended to be political or educational. What should be achieved was simply a new artistic interpretation of the term “evolution”, to show presence. And if we can give an impulse to try harder: even better. Evolution is the driving force for positive changes and vice versa and the reason why mankind has developed and develops further.

The artistic interpretation of an abstract idea is never easy but we may have achieved what we were looking for.

The multicultural aspect has been an important element in the project as it proved to be mind opening and increased the spectrum of experiences. The bear sculpture as the base medium to transmit the message has been specifically chosen as it is in many aspects close to human beings. Since the beginning of time bears captured man’s imagination, in many civilisations bears were often represented in art, as a symbol of strength, and capacity of adapting to change. Mankind and art have moved on from the ancient concepts of its early ages. Many years have passed and the bear still sparkles as a symbol in modern society for is endurance, perseverance, and capacity of having adapting characteristics that we humans aspire and admire.

For more, see the brochure “Dance of the Bears”

A unique project that conjures many readings, it’s no surprise that it has uncovered a wide spectrum of very individual interpretations. Each piece remains an individual work, but yet they all have a special momentum because of the expectations that the artists have of themselves and of the team as a whole. What drives us to achieve success and happiness throughout our lives? Passion, a feeling that can mean many things. The main challenge to transform the idea of “Passion” into an animal sculpture, was to find a medium which could represent this idea. Elephants, animals with approximately the same life span as a human being, clever, very family oriented and their adolescents with nearly the same behaviour as their human counterparts have been the final choice. Needless to say, they inspired the artists to go even one step further. In addition to a “normal” wandering sculpture exhibition, the idea to inspire elephants climbing trees were born. If you are looking around, you will still find several elephants occupying trees! The original elephant tree sculpture can today be found in Germany. For more, see the brochure “Passion”.

These sculptures are inspired by the likes of Henry Spencer Moore, Fernando Botero and especially Niki de Saint Phalle with her colourful Nanas. You can recognise influences from each artist's pieces in the unique collection of creations.

The smaller Graces are produced in ceramic and bronze; the larger ones, made from fibreglass and polyester resin, and may have from 85 centimetres to 6 metres in height, a wonderful art piece for a small garden or an extensive property. The choice to work with fibreglass and polyester resin has not been an easy one, considering that the work process itself is an important part of the creation of a sculpture. Working with hand tools on a stone releases for example the smell of metals hidden for thousands of years in the stone, working with bronze is an exciting process which requires high skills from different craftsmen. However, taken into consideration that all sculptures coming from this workshop have been and are supposed to “travel”, logistics outweighed at the end the traditional materials. Our graces can be found all over Europe, from the cold Norway up to the Swiss Alps.