The Life and Art of Ulrich Pakker

I was 14 when I began my apprenticeship in Germany as a sheet metal worker learning skills that would allow me to create the complex geometries of my art.

I am a self-taught artist.

During the 1980's I discovered stainless steel, now the primary medium for my artwork although I also create works in titanium, silicon bronze, silver and gold. Patinas allow me to add startling colors to my work from turquoise to coffee to jet black.

Each work of art begins in my mind's eye as geometrical shapes, shifting and aligning themselves. Circular forms stretch and curve, bending together and apart, creating the voids, or negative spaces and the curvilinear forms I see in Nature.

I start with large, flat pieces of metal and transform the stubborn metal into flowing curves and sweeping silhouettes, mimicking the natural geometries around me, playing with universal shapes and primordial materials.

Different textures layer my work: velvet finishes contrast with mirror reflections and swirling surfaces, rough bronzes lay next to clean clear stainless steel.

In my fountains, I add the element of water, joining the lines of the piece with thick ropes of weaving waters. The motion inherent in water's movement makes my art even more lively.

Each piece evolves as I walk around it. Light dances off edges and is sucked up by dark patinas.