Menschliche Zwillinge

This sculpture by Daniel Bucur embodies determination. One of nature's most fundamental structures is undoubtedly the double helix of DNA. This complex form is the material basis of the genes of all living beings. The biochemically interconnected molecules form the foundation and the key to all life on Earth. The artist hints at this primal force of life as determination in an oak sculpture.

While the majority of Daniel Bucur's works consist of a single piece of wood, he makes an exception here and assembles the sculpture from multiple layers of oak wood. They are matte polished, giving them a wonderfully warm, glossy surface. This presentation of the double helix exhibits both a vertically ascending and a horizontally stabilizing quality.

The artist builds the spiral layer by layer, gracefully and yet sturdily, towards the top. The determination to grow upward requires both foresight and caution.

"Eingriff" is the title of this sculpture. But what do we understand by that? An intervention against nature is a familiar term. Or it could refer to a surgical procedure. With a scalpel, a cut is made, and an operation is performed on a patient.

In this case, Daniel Bucur has made an intervention into the trunk of an old poplar tree. First, he created an upright, elongated block from a section of the trunk. But how to incorporate a cut into the wood? It's a challenging task that the artist solved by making a leather model. With this template, it became possible to carry out the intervention. The cut traverses the wood in a zigzag line, colored in red, creating the impression of a gaping wound that allows a glimpse into the interior. The magic lies in the fact that hardly anything follows the natural structure of the wood. Neither the cut itself nor the slightly worked-back left axis of the sculpture. The artist, however, doesn't see himself as a magician; he views his work as entirely normal, as normal as nature itself.

Wind and weather erode the stone. Only the gentleness of the constant water is able to shape the rock. The unyielding gentleness manages to put its stamp on this hard substance, but this takes many millennia, perhaps even millions of years.

Wood, on the other hand, is a fragile material; it can be cut and split, it can burn or break. Even the hardest piece of oak can rot and weather in a few decades. It demands caution in its treatment and use. It must be cared for. Wood, unlike stone, is not a material of eternal duration. Here, however, Daniel Bucur has created a massive, indestructible block through its exterior design. A chunk of rock that was thrown up from a volcano, solidified and preserved for eternity. As a whole, it remains. Indestructible for centuries to come.