page_title: Robert Koenig (sculptor)
section_title: Work
hierarchical_section_title: Robert Koenig (sculptor) / Work
caption_attribution_description: English: Exhibition of the Odyssey project by Sculptor Robert Koenig. Showing at Worcester Cathedral in the UK in 2009
context_page_description: Robert Koenig is an English sculptor, who specialises in wood sculpture and is a prominent exponent of the art of woodcarving using the traditional tools of mallet and chisel. He is known for his carved and polychromed figurative wood sculptures, which he has been creating since the early 1980s. One of the earliest polychromed figures was shown in the 'Temple' exhibition at the Shaw Theatre, London in 1988.
  In 1992 the artist Craigie Horsfield wrote: "Koenig drew from the culture of carving that was rooted in the folk art of Central Europe; a naturalist depiction of the world with mythic overtones. It is no coincidence that the small renaissance of wood carving apparent in Europe should have happened in Germany; in our century the focus of the long struggle of nationalism and mystery. It was given impetus and found acceptance through the painted wood sculpture of Georg Baselitz. In the line of Kirchner's expressionist figures the wood is scarred and the heads, excessive and gestural, have pigment dragged across them. They came out of the expressionist tradition but made space effectively for other artists to be seen.
context_section_description: He is noted for his imaginative and bold use of colour on wood, which started during his Slade student days. He produces woodcarvings both large and small for public and private spaces around the UK. 'Metropolis', a 34 ft oak column, was sited in Campbell Park in Central Milton Keynes in 1991. 'Bilston Totems' is a group of 15 carved sweet chestnut trees up to 19 ft in height and sited on the Oxford Road roundabout in Bilston, Wolverhampton in 1997. 
     
   
   A 14ft cedar woodcarving entitled  ‘Boy and Girl’ was sited on a roundabout in Kents Hill, Milton Keynes in 1997. He regularly works on large scale carved and painted wood relief panels such as the 'Blue Portal no. 7' purchased by the Buckinghamshire County Museum in Aylesbury in 1997 and the smaller 'Rustic Umbrellas' purchased by the Arts Council of Great Britain. Robert Koenig was one of the first artists to be invited to participate in the Grizedale Forest Sculpture Project, Grizedale Arts in the Lake District of England. He spent seven months during 1982–83 living and working in a forest environment and left behind six sculptures as his personal response to this landscape. The Grizedale Forest Sculpture Project was initiated in 1977 and has influenced a generation of sculptors and helped transform the way sculpture is seen and made and understood in public places.
  His ongoing monumental woodcarving project 'Odyssey' seeks out temporary exhibition spaces in cathedrals, street corners, town squares, barns and fields in Poland, Ukraine and currently the UK.  The UK venues include Rochester Cathedral, Portsmouth Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Chichester Cathedral, Worcester Cathedral and York Minster. Odyssey consists of an ever expanding group of carved wood male and female figures, each 2.5m tall. These polychromed figures were exhibited in Leutkirch im Allgäu, Baden-Württemberg, Germany in 2013. As of 2019 there are 46 figures in the Odyssey touring group. There are a further 5 Odyssey figures which were created for each of the five exhibition venues in Germany between 2013-17.
  Since 1996 Robert Koenig has collaborated closely with the Museum Dwory Karwacjanow and Gladyszow in the town of Gorlice in South East Poland. He has held exhibitions there in 1997, 2001 and 2004 and in the nearby town of Tarnow in 1998 and 2004. He is a regular Polish English translator of their art catalogues and associated texts and information boards. He is also helping to set up art workshops and symposiums for UK participants at the newly restored Renaissance castle of Szymbark.
  Work in public and private collections in United Kingdom, USA, France, Italy, Malta, Sweden, Germany, Greece, China and Poland.
caption: A group of 33 carved wood figures, each 2.5m tall, created by the sculptor Robert Koenig and exhibited in Worcester Cathedral, UK in 2009
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