Quest for Truth

His statues are as beacons in a world adrift, as anchors to secure us as we look around to discover what is truly worthwhile in life.

Jef Wishaupt, plastic artist; goldsmith and sculptor, is aware of his responsibility to give meaning and a sense of security to his creations as they will take up space in an already over crowded world, and so it is that we find in all of his work a warmth, a feeling of growth, a fulllness and shoots, which cut back and filed express a sort of excitement which can almost be seen as the pain of development. So, too, we find the softness that warms and the rip that restrains itself but provides a counter balance. The development is not obvious, the contrasts are anchored in a struggle for balance. Purity and harmony, warmth enclosed in the chiseled or cast mass, are emphasized by the softness of form that comes to the surface as the stone is highly polished and the bronze either rubbed to a glossy finish or treated with an even patina. Always the sanding and filing emphasize the streamlining. At times Jef adds color to his bronze; his patina may vary from black to green or even the color of wood. Occasionally he uses chrome for his finish. Always these shining forms, mirroring the power of live itself, invite the spectator to literally see himself.

Jef Wishaupt points the way to improvement, growth, hope for the future. In miniature, individuality in his jewelry, and in the massive, monumental with his statues in bronze and stone. 'They just happen', the artist declares.'It simply happens. And when I look back at what I have made, I think:' oh, yes, it had to be that way.' Yet the statues and jewelry that Jef makes don't simply 'happen' in the usual sense of the word. There is a very serious and carefully considered foundation from which he brings us the positive values of live. His inspiration is to be found in an intense feeling for nature, the human condition, and the cultural inheritance. He makes use of excellent materials- granite and bronze, silver and gold- and these he forms and finishes according to classic rules. His striving for perfection drives him to ever harder and more intense work. the products of his skill, energy and patience enrich our world and give as an aesthetic renewal.

Jef delights in the original, searches for the truth. People, animal, plants- are all sources of inspiration. Growth, movement, rhythm are essential and sometimes the organic forms are insinuated, but never are they explicit. The familiar gives way to smooth or glowing abstractions. The circle and the ball shape, or just say sun, seed, flower, fruit- and all of the equivalents of theseflow together in very compact, completed compositions. The unity has its origin in the mass, acquires its excitement and rhythm in contrasts and find its perfection in the surrounding space. Contrasts of concave and convex, sharp ribs and wavy contours, bulges that strengthen one another and are echo of one another, landscapes in which the eye strives to look further- so the change is never abrupt but is always a part of the other. The imaginary form of the borderline is held to its extreme and the space thus saved is always bridged.

The repetition of shapes is the inner strength, the never ending spark. The delicate balance of distance and close up, space and mass, seems tuned to the line, the form, the thought that unites and binds. Many of Jef's statues make one unconsciously a spy of the intimidate. With his anonymous abstraction he arouses the emotions of the beholder and with beauty he gives form to the unspeakable.