Washday women chat about having a chat!
There is some really amusing street art on display in the city centre this summer. The larger than life figures created out of concrete by Christel Lechners, depict ordinary people going about their daily business. The soft colours and each individual face are really interesting.
Street workers.
Christel Lechner was born in Iserlohn in 1947, and trained as a ceramicist and master craftsman from 1978-1982 at the Münster Master Craftsman workshops. From 1984-1986 she studied ceramics at the University of Bochum. She created her first works in concrete in 1988, and it is difficult to see concrete as the medium for faces and clothing in such subtle colours. The larger than life size figures on the theme of everyday life first appeared in public spaces in 1996.
Playing "Musical Chairs"
The "Everyday men and women" are all lovable characters you could encounter every day in any town, and who are rarely seen as fashionable or beautiful. They are figures in everyday situations, just everyday people, although not made of flesh and blood, but of concrete. They don´t have model body dimensions and wrinkle-free faces, they have the faces that most of us have. Christel Lechner deliberately counteracts the widespread delusion of beauty: "Faces that tell a story are much more exciting than those with a perfect complexion and immaculate skin".
Ladies sitting and looking at the hairdressers.
They are sitting underneath hair dryers, but I seem to have failed to include them in the photograph.
One man and his dog.
It was interesting to stand at a distance and notice that most people patted the dog.
Business men attempt having fun whilst watching the carnival.
These figures stand in the Altstadtmarkt, the place where each year the autumn carnival sets off for its tour of Braunschweig.
Ladies and gentlemen enjoying afternoon tea.
Who would have thought that concrete cakes could look so appetising!
The carnival jester takes a rest on his sofa.
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