Tom Frantzen

Artist Tom Frantzen creates whimsical bronze sculptures and humorous scenes. Because of his wild imagination originality and humor are the center of his style. His main objective is to search for a special dynamic where he places emphasis on pre existing locations. One of his main objectives as an artist is to have his work call out to passerby’s and start a dialogue. Sharing a dialogue with people is a very important part of his work and the reason he turned to public work was because he wanted to open discussion with as many people as he could.

Li Belle Hippo, 2009, bronze, approx life size

One of Frantzen’s particularly humorous sculptures is Li Belle Hippo. It is the ridiculous image of a massive hippo with much too small dragonfly wings taking off into flight. We see her in mid air and can only imagine if by some miracle she is able to fly away or if we are about to see her come crashing to the ground. It’s relatable because at some point in almost everyone’s life we’ve wished we could fly. This charming hippo has taken her dream very seriously and just leaped into the air. Amazingly, Frantzen managed to make the massive body look light as air as she is outstretched to climb higher. This whimsical piece is funny, clever, and plays on all of our most wildest, seemingly impossible dreams.

De Vaartkapoen, 1985, bronze, life size

Madame Chapeau, 2000, bronze, life size