Online exhibition

 
Robert Schad (* 1953 in Ravensburg) is one of the most internationally renowned steel sculptors of the present day. His sculptures, made of solid square steel, sometimes span the space with dancing lightness, sometimes with majestic composure, in order to take possession of it. The rhythm of the material welded together from sawn structural steel bars turns the spaces into designed places of enchanting beauty and, for all their movement, conveys the impression of a statuesque, auratic and contemplative permanence. The 45 or 60 mm thick steel takes its measure from the human being: It can just barely embrace him. The grace and dignity that Schad expresses here makes his works protagonists of a modern classicism that seeks balance and perfection.
Completely independent of the sculptures, drawings on paper as well as lacquer works on sheet steel are created to complement the work in a striking way. What drives him here is the freedom of the autonomous line in all its multiformity, without content or static concessions. The line follows the sculptural trace, not vice versa. At the same time, Robert Schad also builds a bridge from the individual, free spatial duct to the constructed, built space that engages with the surrounding architecture. In this way, installative choreographies are created that are borne by a great plastic will - as, for example, in the case of "Stuttgarter Weg".
Through fantastic-poetic naming ("Hergis," "Kalles," "Kamart," etc.), the sculptor turns his expansive sign settings into beings of almost mythical presence, which, according to Schad, give viewers impulses "to embark on a journey to their very own associative world."