Paul Hoffmann

At the same time that he resolved to be a sculptor, Paul Hoffmann decided on stone as his medium. From 1997 to 2002 he studied stone sculpture at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hanover, after which he became a pupil under Makoto Fujiwara. Both his works on display in ”Blickachsen 7“ are identified by their names ”Bridge“ and ”Gateway (Hemmingen)“. They testify to the artist’s concentration on his material and lead the eye of the observer to their natural quality. Both works are hewn from a single block of stone and seem from a distance to form a natural part of the park landscape. The contrast between the rough, mainly unworked surface of the stone and the bare geometrical form cut from it mirrors the artistic workmanship in its dialogue with stone and nature, that Hoffmann describes as a ”balance between intervention and restraint, between doing and not doing“. Through a holding back in his creative activity the sculptor preserves the character of the stone and at the same time he seems to open it up – to liberate, as it were, its core.