Anyone who encounters the sculptures of artist Olaf Auser unprepared will be surprised by the attention to detail, delicacy and individuality of the figures depicted.
Olaf Auser has mastered the art of creating a new realism of the present day with an almost renaissance-like skill.
Most of his sculpted protagonists are mirror-like, momentary and reminiscent of déjà vu.
Figures that seem to the viewer to be embroiled in unfathomable adventures – people like you and me, people who have turned their inner selves inside out and openly display their innermost souls.
olaf auser
faces and traces
The expressive power of faces is at the heart of Olaf Auser’s artistic work.
“Heads have always fascinated me.
Even as a ten-year-old, I would go to the cemetery and demand that the gravediggers give me a skull.
Nonsense, of course, but the fascination of heads has stayed with me ever since.
The whole of life is reflected in faces – faces and traces – not only do they rhyme, they also belong together, and so he has become a real headhunter and he(a)donist.
“Heads have always fascinated me.
Even as a ten-year-old, I would go to the cemetery and demand that the gravediggers give me a skull.
Nonsense, of course, but the fascination of heads has stayed with me ever since.
The whole of life is reflected in faces – faces and traces – not only do they rhyme, they also belong together, and so he has become a real headhunter and he(a)donist.
Artist olaf auser
- Internationally successful
- Traded internationally
Publications faces and traces 163 ONE SIX THREE | art in print Verlag
STILTWALKER COUPLE; clay, plaster, wood, acrylic, graphite, painted © Olaf User
headhunter headonist, headache max-headroom ...
A decisive factor in the expressive power of Olaf Auser’s figurative work lies in a traumatic experience that has had a lasting impact on his subject matter and approach.
He supplements his highly realistic figures, which at first glance appear friendly and positive or perhaps even somewhat dreamy, with attributes that influence the situational gestures of the figures.
Excessive demands, helplessness, pain, but also detachment are expressed here.
Olaf Auser himself calls this process “status transfer”, by which he means the reduction of anxiety through the principle of image and counter-image, united in one sculpture.
The artist and his GREAT JUGGLER in the process of creation 2024 © konsum163
head birth - the great juggler
olaf auser
The “Panopticon” cycle with King, Philosopher and Skull is a remarkable triumvirate of souls.
The protagonists seem like figures torn from life who unwittingly have to play a role in the comedia dell’arte that overtaxes them.
A symbol of our daily madness?
More reality than appearance or just carnival? The king certainly doesn’t make a happy impression.
The protagonists seem like figures torn from life who unwittingly have to play a role in the comedia dell’arte that overtaxes them.
A symbol of our daily madness?
More reality than appearance or just carnival? The king certainly doesn’t make a happy impression.
KINGS FATE. AM I A KING BECAUSE I HAVE A CROWN, plaster, gesso, acrylic, graphite, painted, W 37 x D 27 x H 57 cm © Olaf Auser
KINGS FATE. AM I A KING BECAUSE I HAVE A CROWN (photograph with corrections during the creation process) © Olaf Auser
The artist’s studio near Frankfurt am Main, 2024 © konsum163
head births
THE GREAT JUGGLER, EVERYTHING IS FINE TODAY – SYNAPSENSCHLEUDER, plaster, wood, stainless steel, gesso, acrylic paint, painted, W 21 x D 21 x H 57 cm © Olaf Auser
EVERYTHING IS FINE
olaf auser
“THE GREAT JUGGLER” (excerpt)
faces and traces
Various works by the artist © Olaf Auser
off(s)er- neat
2024
exhibitions and vita
2024 MENSCHENSKIND – just look at you, Olaf Auser, Janina Bruegel Gottfried Römer, konsum163, Munich
Olaf Auser, born in Berlin in 1962, discovered his passion for art and design processes at an early age. His sculptural experiments began at the age of 12/13 with gas concrete. At the age of 15, he founded a group of artists in Aschaffenburg and devoted himself increasingly to etchings and painting. His works were shown in his first group exhibitions. After training as a letterpress printer and completing a one-year design internship, Olaf Auser was accepted at the renowned “Mathildenhöhe” Academy of Design in Darmstadt. During his studies, he founded his first design agency. With the millennium came the decision to work more artistically, particularly in the field of sculpture. During this time, he created the pragmatic series of works “Kopf” (Head), which dealt with the possibility or impossibility of representational questions, above all with the moment, which represents a sheer impossibility to capture and accordingly ends in reduction. After momentous turning points in 2019, there was a change in artistic thinking. In order to be able to depict psychological processes of change more concretely, among other things, the works became increasingly figurative. The artist is characterized by his protracted exploration of thematic worlds and his slow and intensive way of working with plaster. Olaf Auser lives with his wife in a retreat not far from Frankfurt am Main. His works are represented in various private collections worldwide.
