When the Spark Skips Sculpture

Jan Koethe is a stainless steel sculpturer from Berlin. He work impresses the viewer with a captivating dialogue between the material he uses and the surprisingly new language of forms he has found for it. This sculptor creates, and skilfully exploits, the contrast between cold and rigid steel and the shapes that here rise and wind upwards as if in natural and organic growth. The characteristics of steel, hardness and heavy mass, seem to have disappeared - Köthe´s objects impress the viewer through a seeming lightness, malleability and, in particular, structural flexibility. When light hits the shining, ground steel surfaces, changing views become emphasized that the shapes and forms are able to present to the spectator. Rays of light on these metal objects underline viewers' impression that they are confronted with a hidden dynamic of things that flow and glide. Individual works receive concrete statements that have a social-cultural background shown gestures. The sculptures show e.g. Statements, quotations, or statements with which Koethe is identified. An example for primarily aesthetic influenced work is homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude. In this work, Koethe handles his impressions of Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, especially the constricting and folding of the substances. His sculptures in this series of works have the material appearance of flowing fabric and showing two connected parts.