"Angel"
by George Ahrens
 | The artist about his work: The blockiness of the Udelfang Sandstone is the basis of the formal conception of the sculpture. The artistic interventions remain clearly legible. Large parts of the natural material and fracture structure are preserved. The result is a lively interplay of different surfaces and form elements, which creates the appearance of the angel figure in extreme reduction. The strength and power of the spiritual force - angels - that exist in all cultures becomes apparent. |
The end: Stones by the River by Dr. Baerbel Schulte
George Ahrens Stone "Angel" is a very strong reminder of the past of this region, in which cult stones, menhirs or dolmens were erected as early as Celtic times, which marked the connecting lines between earth and sky as "heavenly pillars" and which people worshiped as the seat of the gods became. God and stone form a unity in the cult and thus a "personification" of heavenly omnipotence until the late Middle Ages. Ahrens takes up this idea, forms the Udelfanger Stein with its multi-layered surface into corporeal beings and concentrates the disembodied spirituality of divine, ideal forces in them. However, people have no knowledge of their appearance, only a symbolic idea that has been more or less canonized over the centuries. Accordingly, this sculpture is not narratively figurative, but in its strictly reduced form only allows a hint of corporeality.
Biography:
1947 born in Koblenz, 1964-67 stonemason apprenticeship, 1967-73 sculpture studies at the Cologne workshops. Since 1970 freelance sculptor, individual and group exhibitions, works in public spaces and churches, in public and private ownership. 1974-77 assistant to Prof. J. Weber, Technical University of Braunschweig, 1978-81 assistant to Elmar Hillenbrand, RWTH Aachen, 1982 sponsorship award from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, participation in symposia in Luxembourg, Japan, China, Canada, Namibia, Spain and Germany. Lectureships at the technical universities of Aachen, Cologne and Mainz, guest professor in Tianjin and LIN FEN, China.