Untitled from "Turm" series, 1987
Corrugated Galvanized Tin and Painted Cedar Shakes, 93" x 15"
Fred Nagelbach was born in Liebling, Romania in 1943. He earned a B.A. from Valparaiso University, Indiana, in 1965 and an M.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, in 1967 before continuing his studies at the Akademie der Bildenden Kunste in Munich, Germany. His work has been shown in Chicago and New York. Combining the lyricism of English sculptor David Nash and the direct carving technique of Constantin Brancusi, Nagelbach creates dreamed architecture and tool sculptures that transport the viewer to a different time and place. His materials are a mixture of traditional roofing materials and bronze, foam rubber, and polyester resin. The decorative cupolas of his towers can be read as primitive scale interpretations of ancient and contemporary implements of construction.
*Excerpted from Tools as Art: the Hechinger Collection, published by Harry N. Abrams Inc.