Carel Visser

An unconventional sculptor, standing on the shoulders of his great example Constantin Brancusi, Carel Visser has always worked with form and material, all materials. Steel and glass, eggs and feathers, wool and leather, Visser has is not afraid to experiment, but also loyal to traditional values.
Like his friend Joost Baljeu, Carel Visser built in the 50s and 60s on the principles of Mondrian with robust iron sculptures of geometric forms. Especially in the post-war Netherlands, where sculpture is still dominated by the figuration of Esser and Bronner at the Academy, the abstract imagery of Carel Visser was a novelty and a special performance of this great artist.
Beginning 1950s there were those sculptors for whom the obviousness of figuration was no longer satisfactory. Carel Visser is one of those sculptors. He rather experimented with shapes and materials. In his scrapbooks mainly images of prehistoric rock formations, antiques, old cars and the studios of Brancusi and Giacometti can be seen.
Carel Visser has been working for nearly sixty years; sculptures, reliefs, drawings, collages and woodcuts. His first works date from the '40s: subtle human and animal figures, welded iron. In the 50s, these characters are replaced by robust compositions of geometric shapes composed of iron plates and bars. Visser examines principles such as repetition, mirroring, tilt and overload.

Submitted by BorzoGallery