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Nature’s Laugh, dated 1992, is by Gunnar Theel, an artist who was born in Germany and relocated to America in 1969. He has been working in New York City since 1973 as a painter and since the 1980’s as a sculptor. Nature’s Laugh is indicative of the artist’s sense of humor as well as the recurring theme of nature and architecture in his body of work. Made of copper, steel, and plywood, the upside down house balanced on the peak of its roof has grass growing where the bottom floor should be, and a ladder placed in a paradoxical position. For the artist, it represents man’s ongoing dialogue with nature and nature’s supreme victory over man’s continuous attempt to be its master.
Houses and architecture continue to influence Theel’s art as illustrated with his Right Angles series of abstract steel sculptures. Currently the artist is working on Nereids, a group of six 48" steel sculptures that are part of the Right Angles series. (You can visit Theel’s website at http://www.gunnARTheel.net/ for more information on his recent sculptures and exhibitions.)
Theel has been exhibited and is represented in numerous collections—select shows include exhibitions at New Hope Arts, New Hope, PA; A New Leaf Gallery, Berkeley, CA; the Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge, MA; the Shanghai Spring Art Salon, Shanghai, China; The Madison Mile at The Hollycroft Foundation, Madison, CT; Pier Walk, Chicago, IL; ART/OMI, Omi, NY; Pratt Institute Sculpture Park, Brooklyn, NY; and Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA. His sculptures are in collections in America and Europe including the Museum of Modern Art in Jacksonville, FL (JMOMA); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Hall Financial Group, Dallas, TX; and Shanghai Krupp Stainless, Pudong, China, to name a few. |
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Nature's Laugh, 1992
copper, stainless steel, marine plywood, soil, grass
87 3/4" x 72 1/2" x 62 7/8"
Courtesy of The Sculpture Foundation, Inc.
Photo: Lynn DeClemente |
