Renowned German sculptor Hartmut Stielow has spent nearly five decades creating monumental steel and granite sculptures that stand in cities around the world. However, a life-changing heart surgery in 2014 forced the 68-year-old artist to completely reimagine his artistic practice, leading to an unexpected transformation that has resulted in a compelling new body of work now on display at Hannover's Feinkunst Gallery.
Stielow's artistic journey took a dramatic turn when he received an artificial aorta in 2014. The surgery came with strict medical restrictions that seemed to spell the end of his career working with heavy materials. "I was only allowed to lift a maximum of five kilograms after the operation," recalls the artist. For someone whose life's work involved manipulating massive steel plates and granite blocks, this limitation appeared to make continuing his established practice impossible.
The Hannover-based sculptor had found his calling in the late 1970s while studying under renowned artist Bernhard Heiliger at the former Berlin University of the Arts in West Berlin. For 45 years, Stielow dedicated himself to exploring what he describes as "the confrontation of two different things that then become one" – the marriage of steel and granite in abstract sculptural forms. His unwavering focus on this single theme produced works of remarkable consistency and power that earned international recognition.
Stielow's sculptures can be found across the globe, from Shanghai to Tennessee, as well as in Berlin and throughout his home region. In Hannover alone, his work "Forward to High" has stood prominently on the former Hanomag industrial site in Linden-Süd since 2019, serving as a testament to his mastery of three-dimensional form and his ability to transform industrial materials into objects of contemplation.
The transition from three dimensions to two began several months after his aorta surgery when a friend brought canvases to Stielow's studio. Initially, the rust paintings emerged from what the artist calls "artistic recycling" – he placed the steel plates from which he had cut pieces for his sculptures onto the canvases and allowed them to rust into the surface, creating what were essentially negative forms of his previous work.
This new medium opened up entirely different creative possibilities. "When working on a sculpture, you can determine relatively precisely what will emerge," Stielow explains. "With the rust paintings, it's different." The artist describes himself as more of an alchemist than a chemist when it comes to these works, acknowledging that he cannot reliably predict the patterns that emerge from the chemical processes he sets in motion. "Chance becomes a co-creator," he says. "I gladly embrace that."
The evolution of this new practice has been remarkable in its scope and ambition. Stielow soon expanded beyond traditional canvases to experiment with found materials, creating rust paintings on lead plates, old sheets, truck tarps, and plastic double-wall panels. This experimentation has gradually introduced an element that had played little role in his work for decades: color.
The current exhibition at Feinkunst Gallery showcases this dramatic expansion of Stielow's palette. One particularly striking rust painting features a spectacularly luminous blue background, created on a tarp that still bears the handwritten word "Freibad" (public pool) and a directional arrow pointing out of the frame. This poetic touch demonstrates how even Stielow's two-dimensional works maintain a spatial quality, with his art continuing to lead viewers "into the open."
The exhibition, which runs through January 11 at Feinkunst Gallery on Roscherstraße 5, represents more than just a shift in medium for Stielow. It tells a unique story of artistic adaptation and renewal, showing how physical limitations can become the catalyst for creative breakthrough. The gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 2 to 6 PM, with free admission, offering visitors the opportunity to witness firsthand this remarkable transformation in the work of one of Germany's most dedicated sculptors.
