Gateway
Title and year
Gateway, 2001
Material
Granite
Artist
Hans Lembrecht Madsen, b. 1943
Location
Torvegade 23, Padborg
Description
Hans Lembrecht Madsen’s work is richly represented in Aabenraa Municipality. The artist often gives his sculptures clever titles that are based on wordplay and point towards an interpretation.
At first, viewers of Gateway think the title is meant to be taken at face value. However, the subtle twist lies in the small block of stone embedded among the paving stones in front of the entrance to the Gateway, which the artist refers to as “a tripping stone”. This is his comment on the difficulty one can have getting through the gateway to Denmark, given that – geographically speaking – the Danish–German border and his Gateway are in very close proximity.