Rainer Hunold

Rainer Hunold (born 1 November 1949 in Braunschweig) is a German actor and sculptor. After completing his Abitur at the Raabeschule Gymnasium, he studied art education, German studies and, for several semesters, sculpture, before attending the Max Reinhardt School of Drama in Berlin from 1975. Hunold became widely known for his leading roles in German television series such as “Ein Mann will nach oben,” “Ein Fall für zwei,” “Dr. Sommerfeld – Neues vom Bülowbogen,” and most notably “Der Staatsanwalt.” In recent years, he has deliberately shifted his focus from acting to sculpture.

Alongside his acting career, Hunold has steadily developed his sculptural work over many years. The starting point of many sculptures are fragments of felled or dead trees that he collects during walks and covers with thousands of copper nails in his studio. From these irregular growth structures emerge condensed, organic bodies with a metallic skin oscillating between vulnerability and protection. Selected pieces are then moulded and cast in bronze or iron, transferring the transformation from wood through copper into durable metal form.

The series “Protections” centres on the idea of protection: the copper-covered wood pieces resemble shields or armour while preserving traces of growth. The series “AL,” named after the Andalusian licence code, draws on impressions from his stay in Spain and develops them into volumetric, softly rounded forms closely interlocked with one another. These organic studies also form the basis of the iron cast AL 23, realised in 2022 at the Lauchhammer Art Foundry, exemplifying the collaboration between artist and foundry.

Hunold’s sculptures have been shown in galleries and museums mainly in the Rhine-Main region, including Galerie BRAUBACHfive in Frankfurt am Main, the Horex Museum in Bad Homburg, and the Museum Gotisches Haus, where his exhibition “Transformation. Sculptures by Rainer Hunold” is presented on the occasion of the museum’s reopening. Accompanying catalogues contextualise his sculptural work and demonstrate how Hunold translates the experience of theatre and film — rhythm, presence, compression—into an autonomous sculptural language.