Prior Uscita
The Art Walk
Uscita
"Every material is a challenge, whether it's a six-meter-tall tree trunk or a piece of paper."
EDUCATION
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A Closer Look at the Work
Uscita“ – exit, exit – does not open up a clear path, but rather creates a space for interpretation. The bronze surface, marked over the years by rain, air and time, bears that green patina that does not allow bronze to age but makes memory visible. Like a trace of past encounters, it lies above the relief and gives the figure a somewhat otherworldly, almost spiritual quality.
Only when the work is viewed more closely does the abstract form begin to dissolve into a human being. Hints of a body emerge; fragments of a head, of a floating existence between appearance and disappearance. Lines open up to the right and left that seem to be wings – not clearly defined, but rather like a reminder of something heavenly.
Perhaps „Uscita“ the figure of an angel who has left behind immortality to become human. A being between heaven and earth, between longing and loss, between eternity and transience. The exit here becomes at the same time the entrance: a transition from the divine to the experience of human existence.
Thus, the work carries a silent spiritual tension without being religiously determined. It tells of transformation, of sacrifice and of that ancient hope of finding salvation within the human self. The figure does not seem to fall or rise – it floats in a state of in-betweenness, open to any perception of the beholder.
About the Artist
Klaus Prior’s artistic work takes shape without preparatory sketches or models. Depending on their size, his sculptures and works on canvas and paper are often completed in a single, concentrated session. Spontaneity and condensation define the process. Through a form of psychic automatism, Prior gives visual expression to his state of mind at that moment. The works reflect raw, intuitive sensations and immediate emotional states.
Using spontaneously chosen colours, impulsive gestures and swiftly applied brushstrokes, the artist develops the silhouettes of his motifs out of an inner necessity. Crossing the boundaries of form, deliberately exaggerating heads, faces, limbs and gestures, and leaving the traces of the working process visible are central stylistic devices. They embody the expression of the moment and give the works their compelling presence.
As a sculptor, Prior works primarily with wood, one of the oldest artistic materials. His iron sculptures also originate in wooden works. He consistently avoids narrative contexts, attributes and representational references that might place his figures within particular stories. The figures stand on their own: existential, vulnerable and isolated.
Prior’s art is deeply shaped by his childhood and youth in post-war Germany, by his awareness of the human condition and its fragility, and by the lived realities of an industrial working-class culture shaped by many nationalities. His paintings and sculptures explore pain, injury and isolation as recurring conditions of human existence.
As a member of the generation born after the perpetrators, Prior rejected their repression of the past and refusal to acknowledge guilt. He avoided conscription in West Germany during the economic miracle by emigrating to Switzerland. From there, he followed the Auschwitz trial in Frankfurt am Main closely and, although he bore no personal guilt, engaged deeply with Germany’s crimes against humanity.
This historical awareness and his engagement with philosophy after Auschwitz underpin his thinking and creative work. Prior’s oeuvre expresses an existential struggle with memory, responsibility and the fragile dignity of human beings.
Photos: © Stefan Gröpper Photography / Daniel Woeller
Ardi Goldman Kunst-
und Kulturstiftung gGmbH
Uniongelände
Hanauer Landstraße 188, 60314 Frankfurt am Main