Artists

Harald Klingelhöller

Press release

Harald Klingelhöller's first exhibition at the Tucci Russo gallery took place in 1993. Since the mid-1980s, Harald Klingelhöller has occupied a unique position at the intersection of sculpture and language. Defining himself as a "linguistic flaneur," he transforms the written and spoken word into three-dimensional form. His practice creates a tension between narrative elements and visual art, employing a wide range of materials — from fragile paper, cardboard, and glass mirrors to heavy steel and granite. Klingelhöller's sculptures can be read as spatial transcriptions of language, playing with intonation, repetition, and the linear flow of letters. The metaphorical and poetic phrases he utilizes — drawn from the press, poetry, or medical and legal texts — are far more than mere titles. Instead, they establish a framework where language and object coexist without ever being entirely congruent. It is precisely this lack of congruence that Klingelhöller explores: the unpredictable relationship between the word and the parallel world of objects. This open-ended dialogue allows his oeuvre to serve as a metaphor for a specific understanding of art: one that insists on the autonomy of the work while simultaneously inviting discourse on its meaning. [...]