Kurt Laurenz Metzler
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Kurt Laurenz Metzler (born January 26, 1941), Signature "KLM", is a Swiss sculptor. His artworks coined a lot of Swiss cities, the most of them can be found at public places.
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[edit] Life
Metzler was born 1941 in Balgach, St. Gallen. In School, Metzler already was working creatively, using pieces of wood and cardbord. He wanted to become an artist. Because he lost his father, he temporarily grew up at his uncle’s, Florian Metzler, who was a painter.
Because Metzler’s Mother said, sculptor was an unstable business, he began to be an architectural draftsman, decorator and photographer.
In 1958, he enrolled himself to the „Schule für Gestaltung“, an artistic school of Zurich He got his sculptor’s diploma in 1963. In 1964 he travelled to the USA and lived in New York for a year.
Back in Switzerland, he made an apprenticeship at a car body tinsmith’s to learn the art of blacksmithing. Then he worked for other sculptors, e.g. Ödön Koch, Arnold D’Altri, Paul Speck or Silvio Mattioli.
In 1970, he bought – together with his first wife Alice – a house in Tremona (Canton of Tessin, Switzerland). There, his first big sculpture were made. During these times, Metzler got his first orders and had multiple exhibitions.
Another voyage througt the USA followed. In 1976, he took part at the “International Sculptors Congress“ in New Orleans.
In 1989 he opened up an atelier in Tillson, New York, where he created works for exhibitions in New York and Long Island. He went to Italy, where he started to work and live in Lesa near Siena, with Claudia, his second wife. Today, he lives in the Toscana and in Zurich.
[edit] Style
His opinionated sculptures are made of materials that are heavy, but seem to be light when seen in the definitve work (Marble, Bronze, Iron, Aluminium). Sometimes, the materials are bare, but often they are painted unicolored with a rather violent color.
The elder motives are wire dancers, people who are man and motor united (they e.g. contain motor parts or chains). Newer are the motives Zeitungsleser (Someone who is reading a newspaper), Stadtneurotiker (City-neurotics) or giant people.
[edit] Select works
- «Gespräch», Ulmbergtunnel, Zürich, 1973
- «Stabhochspringer», Uster, 1974
- «Züri-Familie», Bahnhofstrasse, Zürich, 1978-79
- «Gespräch in Bewegung», Überlandstrasse, Zürich
- Figurengruppe aus Aluminium, Spreitenbach, 1993-94.
[edit] External links
- [1], official website
