HEINZ MACK

16. 5. — 20. 9. 2015

The large summer exhibition 2015 shows the reliefs by Heinz Mack (*1931), which are exemplary for his sculptural and pictorial work. Mack founded the group ZERO with Otto Piene in 1957/58, which was joined a little later by Günther Uecker. He took part in the documenta several times and represented Germany at the 1970 Venice Biennale. The central artistic motif of his complex work is the representation of light in its various forms.

In non-representational sculptures and especially in the reliefs Heinz Mack finds his specific design of light. He works not only with the lively interplay of light and shadow, but also with the help of different, mainly shiny materials to create the appearance of light.

In the mid-1950s, Mack began his work on the reliefs, which he has since executed using various materials and techniques. The works range from small, handy formats to extensive fields that he draws in the sand of the desert. Heinz Mack is thus one of the protagonists of Land Art, which has established itself since the late 1960s as a reaction to the expansion of our horizons through space travel.

Due to the plastic structure of the surfaces and the different lightness of the chosen materials, the incident light is reflected, absorbed and scattered. The result is structures of convincing clarity and surprising liveliness. The exhibition shows works from all of the artist’s creative phases and was developed in close cooperation with Heinz Mack.