Adolf Luther *

(Uerdingen 1912–1990 Krefeld) convex-concave, concave mirror object, signed on the reverse, dated Luther 88 and stamped: “energetische Plastik” and “sehen ist schön”, 7 x 7 alternating convex-concave round mirrors over 6 x 6 concave round mirrors in an aluminium box, on wooden board, 163 x 163 x 11.5 cm, framed, (Ps)

Provenance:
Private collection, north Rhine-Westphalia - purchased directly from the artist

“the objects, described by Adolf Luther himself as concave mirror objects..... are equally objects and instruments.....For every concave mirror object is first and foremost an instrument. it is open to the space in front of it, which it both reflects and makes optically dynamic. its instrumental function is, on the one hand, that the many identical concave mirrors optically multiply a given reality into a multitude of both distorted and abstract ornamental appearances, likely to irritate the viewer, and that, on the other, they create a form of phenomenality within the space, thereby transforming the space itself into a otherwise invisible light-filled area of energy..... And indeed all the concave mirrors throw back everything they reflect into the real space at the level of their focal point: anyone standing fairly close to Luther’s concave mirror object experiences the bright immaterial, and incidentally unphotographable, concreteness of such an “in front–image”, rather like a resistance. Luther’s intention is to use instruments which first need to be invented by the artist, to prove that light is an area of energy in space...... in addition, Luther’s concave mirror objects reflect not only the space but also movements in front of the space. “What is decisive is the observers’ own movements, and the changing points of view these determine, leading to flowing changes in the many reflected appearances.”
(Max imdahl, in: erläuterungen zur Modernen Kunst, eds. norbert Kunisch, Bochum, 1990, p. 156f)

Znalkyněi: Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers