Karel Vreeburg
Freelance Sculptor, Dentist
http://www.karelvreeburg.nl
karel@karelvreeburg.nl
"Quite surprisingly I only started sculpting in September 2003 at the age of 52 years after a short introduction on working in Stone. Although I grew up in the smell of oil painting I was never before touched by art myself. Stone, in whatever form is for me the most beautiful material to work in. The limited possibilities of the fragile material lead me to my own artistic boundaries. When things go wrong in stone, it is the end of the road. In sculpting I am a self-taught person. Unlike most sculptors, I am only sculpting the inside of my stones, never the outside. In the beginning (from September 2003) I made simple forms as balls, lenses, rings and cubes inside stones. It is my personal view that the original form and integrity of the stone must remain recognizable and intact even after the work is concluded. My work is strongly influenced by Escher, and lately also by one of the world’s leading sculptors Keizo Ushio. As the outside of the stones must remain as intact as possible, it is the end result that dictates the way of going into the stone. During the Biennale (1-9 December 2007) in Florence Italy my "540 Split Torus" was the topic of a talk by art critic Paul Lorenz from the Art Academy of San Francisco. As an artist I feel that I am uncovering the secret of the inner stone. Part creator but also as medium, I try to give the stone a voice and freeing its concealed character. Stone stands symbol for eternity and as mineral, it is a tangible link to physics and the forces driving the universe. Characteristic of most all my work is that the original form of the stone can be restored by filling the sculpture with wet sand in the same colour as the stone. Keizo Ushio, one of the worlds leading sculptors said about my work 'I have enjoyed seeing Karel's works. His work is very interesting. And I feel they will serve as a reference.' "
“Hidden Split Torus 540 ”
2007, Alabaster Stone, 67 cm x 44 cm x 24 cm
Within the Alabaster Stone a Hidden split Torus is made which is split by a Möbius ring turning over 540 degrees.
“ Split Torus 180 ”
2008, Serpentine, 60 cm x 38 cm x 19 cm
Inspired by the work of Keizo Ushio I started making Split Tori my way, which is as a sort of archaeological finding hidden in the centre of the stone. This one contains a Möbius strip which turns over 180 degrees.
“Trefoil Knot ”
2007, Alabaster Stone, 35 cm x 34 cm x 34 cm
This sculpture is a Trefoil Knot. I used Escher's drawing to find a way of carving my "hidden Trefoil Knot" in Alabaster. Trefoil Knots and Split Tori 540 are the same spatial expression of a 540 Möbius ring split lengthwise in half.
“Crossing Rings ”
2008, Alabaster Stone, 50 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm
I had this one in my head for a long time. Finally it turned out to be much more difficult.
“ External pealing of a Serpentine Stone ”
2004, Serpentine Stone, 60 cm x 35 cm x 25 cm
For this sculpture I was inspired by Escher and Dali who had the same idea at the same time, the peeled heads. I tried to express this idea in an abstract form in Stone.