Skulpturenpark Köln

Since 2005 Thomas Stimm (b. 1948 in Vienna, Austria) has been working on a series of flowers and blossoms made of cast aluminium. According to Stimm himself, he was first inspired by drawings of flowers made by his then four-year-old daughter. The judiciously applied "awkwardness" of his sculptures seems in fact to be drawn from children's sketches. However, the reduction of the forms and the gaudy colours are redolent of comic strips. The logic deriving from this drawing is translated into three dimensional form by Stimm. Whereas the dimensions of the Löwenzahn (Dandelion) suggest grandeur and significance, the apparently banal charm of the motif and the simplicity of the title appear to counteract this aspiration. Similarly, the artlessness of the work stands in stark contrast to the complex techniques applied in fabricating the cast, and rendering the plant motif into three-dimensions. With this ostensibly succinct sculptural statement, the artist is seeking to emancipate himself from the omniscient, pretentious gestures in art and the equally high expectations demanded of it.