Gerd Sonntag has been creating works on glass since 1998 and has taken unusual paths with it. Glass has become his artistic material and thus the basis for sculptures. With his transparent glass works, he creates three-dimensional works that reveal an inner life. The glass object Immerschön – innen vergilbt/ außen verbläut (Perennial beauty – yellowed on the inside/blue on the outside) from the Reinhard Ernst Collection is one of his more abstract works. Here, the linear blue form has been retained as a reduced symbol for a human bust, for the head and the upper part of the body. This defines the essence of the work. In addition to wires and nails, it is mainly the colourful glass rods in shades of yellow and red that surround the object and create an interplay an interplay of colour reflections in the light.
Gerd Sonntag (*1954)
Immerschön – Innen vergilbt/außen verbläut, 2005
Currently exhibited: Yes (2nd floor)
Material: Coloured glass, nails, wires
Size: 81.3 x 52.5 x 25 cm
Inv-Nr.: A_162
Image rights: VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Keywords:
Acquisition: Reinhard Ernst Collection; Tolstoi Villa Herbst WohnKunst, Bad Soden a. Ts., 2005
Gerd Sonntag’s work begins with drawings, there is a broad graphic œuvre and not a few sculptures – but above all Gerd Sonntag is one thing: a painter. Born in Weimar in 1954, he began taking lessons at the age of six at a local art school. Later he studied at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig. In 1979 he received a scholarship to study at the Academy of Arts in East Berlin, which he completed in 1982. Today he lives and works in Berlin.
The human being is at the centre of his figurative expressionism. His paintings are kept in pure, strong colours, which he applies with powerful gestures. Since 1998, he has been working with glass as a material, thereby taking unusual paths. Glass has become his artistic material and thus the basis for sculptures. The wild busts of his beginnings have given way to calmer portrait heads whose facial features dissolve into lines. With his transparent glass works, he creates three-dimensional pieces that reveal an inner life.
The glass object Immerschön – innen vergilbt/ außen verbläut (Perennial beauty – yellowed on the inside/blue on the outside) from the Reinhard Ernst Collection is one of his more abstract works. Here, the linear blue form has been retained as a reduced symbol for a human bust, for the head and the upper part of the body. It defines the essence of the work. In addition to wires and nails, it is mainly the coloured glass rods in shades of yellow and red that surround the object and create an interplay of colour reflections in the light.
