Katikati Steel Artist Marcel Zwezerynen Opens New Gallery Exhibition

Katikati resident and steel artist Marcel Zwezerynen has opened a new exhibition at the Carlton Gallery titled The Beautiful Tension. The show explores the interplay between yin and yang, chaos and control — themes that Zwezerynen says mirror both his creative process and life itself.

Forging steel demands enormous physical effort: intense heat, hammering, and relentless force to shape raw metal into something refined and delicate. Zwezerynen, who trained as an engineer, says he often comes across pieces of steel and immediately knows what he will make from them — sometimes holding onto materials for decades before using them.

The exhibition features around 16 pieces, several of which carry social and environmental commentary. Crispr FrankenFruit is a subtly unsettling sculpted fruit that references gene technology and the tension between scientific progress and nature. Other works are more playful, including Glass Slipper — a bronze slipper made for Cinderella's stepsisters — and Make a Bigger Wish, a wishbone inviting visitors to dream larger than ever before. Westie Tree pays tribute to West Coast trees battered and bent by the wind yet still standing.

Zwezerynen, who was born in Taupō to Dutch parents, has work displayed internationally in Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and Singapore. Locally he is known for pieces including the cherry tree sculpture in Cherry Court, the pied shag and falcon sculpture along the Katikati Bird Walk, and the giant bike in Taupō. He also expressed concern about the rise of artificial intelligence in the art world, saying handmade art will become increasingly valuable precisely because it comes from a living person. The Beautiful Tension is free to view at the Carlton Gallery.

Originally published in Katikati News (Sun Media).