Matthias Will – Infos

Matthias Will lives in Darmstadt and in the Odenwald. He studied art at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Universität in Frankfurt from 1970-1973. Between 1975 and 1980, he studied sculpture with Professor Michael Croissant at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, the Städelschule. Since 1980, he works as a freelance sculptor. His works have been shown in Germany and abroad in numerous exhibitions and are to be seen at many public places. In 1987, he started teaching at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe Universität and in 1988 he obtained a scholarship from the country of Hessen for the Cité International des Arts in Paris. In the year of 1996, Matthias Will was awarded the Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Preis of the Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg.

The tension in Matthias Will’s sculptures emerges from the constructive connection of two steel elements, in which elasticity and balance play the central role. The soft connection of stiff single pieces is characteristic for his artwork and the weight of the material is transcendent through the balance situation.A dialectic between heaviness and lightness occurs that is supposed to show up in the emotion of the observer.

Before he starts working on the sculpture, Matthias Will has a clear idea of its geometric shape: squares, circles and spheres. They are developed intuitively. In this respect, the handmade is of crucial importance.

Matthias Will prepares everything by himself: he cuts out the sheets of metal, works on their edges, drills holes and trims the grub-screws, in order to attach the steel ropes. This procedure allows an unique possibility of expression, compared to serial production. The artist intends to culminate the figure relations in an intuitive manner. Most important in his work is its relation and setting in a room or space. Sometimes certain instalments are necessary, to achieve the intended aesthetic effect. The first glance at Will’s constructive steel figures give the impression of lightness and ease. Metall rope constructions enable him to place the figures in floating position. He works on huge sculptures for free and open surroundings. The observer can walk through them and becomes part of it.

His new sculptures contain spiral elements and are a free variation of his constructive ones