The Sculpture Park in the Swiss town of Dietikon near Zurich is a
wonderfully weird world of fantasy. The fantasy and imagination of Bruno
Weber. Born in 1931, he began painting at the age of 11, studied at Zurich
Art College and trained as a lithographer. He then spent time studying in
Rome and made educational trips to other parts of Italy as well as Greece
and Czechoslovakia. In 1969, he created his first sculpture for the park
which in the meantime has grown to cover an area of 20,000 m2. Bruno Weber’s
surreal works eclipse even those of Gaudi and Hundertwasser. The birds of
paradise perched on the wrought-iron entrance gate are no more than a hint
of what is to come. It’s not just the profusion of strange sculpted
creatures, some sinister, some comical, some sad that is so overwhelming,
but also the sheer scale of many of the shapes, for example two flying dogs
over one hundred metres long and four storeys high. Weber doesn’t know if
his work will ever be finished. He has now started on a water garden which
he estimates will cost around five million Swiss francs. However if he
doesn’t finish it, his two highly gifted twin daughters, who have inherited
their father’s creative talents, will continue his weird but wonderful work.
|
