sculptor & jewelry designer

Hubert Minnebo

Hubert Minnebo (Bruges, 1940) entered the Belgian art scene in monumental painting. However, he soon established himself as an all-round sculptor working in bronze, copper, gold and silver. Thanks to his command of the lost wax technique, he is equally well known for his monumental bronzes and his refined jewels; his grandiose surfaces in hammered copper, at one time in high demand, decorates many a public and private space and architectural construction.

All of his bronzes, drawings, jewels and etchings, ares stylistically highly recognizable, thanks to the idiosyncratic, almost abstract rendering of the human face. In the meantime, Minnebo's initially elementary and constructive forms has shifted to sometimes complex figurative sculptures.

Minnebo has always combined skills and talents. He permanently strives towards the unity of craft and artistry; he most certainly does not believe in purely conceptual art. By the same token, he eschews the simply artisanal. An indefatigable traveller, both his spiritual and aesthetic inspiration is drawn from non-western civilizations. The art of ancient Egypt leaves traces in his predilection for the hieratic and sacral poses of his human figures. Yet it is foremost his repeated trips to India, Japan and the former Himalayan kingdoms that nourish his art. Hinduism, Jainism and especially Buddhism have kept his interest going, for decades now.

t is hardly an overstatement to say that his monumental sculptural bronzes evoke the majesty and grandeur of the Himalayas - the virility of Lord Shiva and the erotic elegance of his shakti Parvati; the timeless noblesse of the Buddha and the Mahavira; the endless compassion of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara; the graceful Tara so loved by Tibetans. In a few works, on may even retrace Minnebo's fascination for the Tantras.

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