Robert Metzkes

Robert Metzkes’ interest for a technique rarely practiced today began early: the artist works with terracotta sculptures, which he then glazes with engobe or paints. The life-size busts and figures are the most unexpected; their supposed realism makes them unique in the contemporary German art scene. He maintains a great tradition that began in the Renaissance in Italy, while also focusing on the present. This tension between art form and nature, figuration and abstraction defines his aesthetic practice, which Robert Metzkes discusses in a multi-layered text in this publication.