Erwin Wortelkamp

Erwin Wortelkamp is internationally recognised primarily as a sculptor and founder of the landscape and sculpture park “Im Tal”. On the other hand, his graphic oeuvre of more than 4,000 sheets, which he created over the course of more than six decades, has received less attention to date. It ranges from sketches for projects and actions to architectural designs and independent free works. Colour has become prominent in these works since 1986 at the latest, coinciding with his second home in Italy. In serial cycles, Wortelkamp examines formal and thematic issues, occasionally linking art historical references with existential aspects. Here, artistic processes develop in a continuous dialogue.
For Erwin Wortelkamp, dialogues and “interpenetrations” thus refer not only to visible, formal acts of creating, but also to physical and spiritual dimensions. Every form, every colour, every dialogic principle – be it in sculpture, on paper, or in written text – becomes an existential question for him. The aim of the current presentation is to explore this extensive body of work in depth for the first time and to investigate the question of interpenetration.

Text in English and German.

Beate Reifenscheid studied art history, literature, German studies, journalism and communication science at the Ruhr University Bochum and the Complutense University of Madrid. In 1988 she received her doctorate in Bochum in art history. She then did a traineeship at the Saarland Museum in Saarbrücken, where she was head of the Prints and Drawings Collection and Public Relations from 1991 to 1997. In 1997, she took over the management of the Ludwig Museum in the Deutschherrenhaus in Koblenz.