Karl Prantl was born in Austria in 1923.
He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1952, taught himself to sculpture in stone, and started exhibiting his works in the late 50s.
Some say that Prantl had an obsession with stone. He himself believed that the sculpture belongs to nature, and therefore most of the sculptures do actually ‘live’ in nature.
Prantl’s work is characterized by the preservation of the gross form of the stone he sculpts from, and most of his work is concentrated on the surface of the stone, producing almost organic textures, living and breathing in their own right.
Asides from his art, Karl Prantl is most renowned for initiating and organizing the first International Sculpture Symposium in 1959, held in an abandoned quarry in Austria. This initiative was born out of his desire to allow artists from Eastern Europe (which was under Communist rule and closed to the West), to create a fruitful dialogue with artists from the West.
Another motive for the symposium was the growing tendency of artists to leave the closed space of the gallery and to work in open spaces and in nature.
Prantl invited artists from around the world to participate in the symposia he initiated, and many others followed suit, inspired by Prantl they produce meeting points for artistic creation around the world, Many of the artists who participated in the 1962 symposium in Mitzpe Ramon had participated in that first symposium and were invited to the town by Kosso Eloul, who had also taken part in the first symposium.
Prantl is an award-winning artist and his works are displayed in open spaces throughout Europe.
Karl Prantl died in 2010 in Vienna, Austria.
In the heart of the plain, which descends behind the cliff, there is a light limestone boulder, shaped like a box; its sides seem disintegrated or collapsed.
It seems as if Prantl chiseled the edges of the symmetrical box of stone so subtly that at first glance it seems like a package made of layers of soft fabric.
The work on the surface of the stone did not alter the initial shape, thus keeping its essence and evoking a sense of quiet and concentrated magical projection.
Prantl’s works are distinguished by the fact that he rarely changes the shape of the stones he works with; therefore, the soft and gentle processing of the surface is emphasized, creating a sense of life pulsing beneath the surface itself.
