2024
corten steel
135 x 210 x 140 cm
Pieter Obels is inspired by organic and elemental forms found in the actions of wind and water, and in the natural world. His large, abstract sculptures are at home in the landscape because they are of the landscape, echoing its features and rhythms in the russet tones of Corten steel. They simplify and abstract, whether inspired by the arc of a tree or the arch of a tendril, the movement of a river or stillness of a lake, or the rush and whirl of the wind, which is felt but not seen.
The forces of nature meet with the power of industry in these large-scale sculptures. Obels bends steel to his will, smoothing and curving it. He chooses Corten because of its famously dynamic surface qualities, which are engineered to weather in a stable manner. Corten steel oxidises naturally when exposed to water and humidity.
By placing these sculptures outside, Obels invites the environment to complete them, letting the rain, wind and light act on their skin and leave their traces on them. The rate at which this happens reflects the climate the work is placed in, providing a metaphor for the action of time and the transformations it brings. His sculptures are poetic evocation of the perfection of nature, but also its inexorable erosion and decay.
Pieter Obels (b. 1968) is renowned for sculptures that challenge the conventional perception of steel, transforming robust Corten steel into delicate, sinuous forms that exude lightness and grace. Working independently, without assistants, Obels’ creations possess an elegiac quality, evoking a nostalgic yearning for an era that favoured poetry over power, fragility over industrial noise, and balance over force.
© Isabel de Vasconcellos, 2025. All rights reserved. The author asserts their moral right to be identified as the creator of this work.
