Lotto No. 228 -


Günther Uecker *


Günther Uecker * - Arte contemporanea I

(born in Wendorf in 1940)
Diagonale Struktur V, 1974, signed, dated and titled Uecker 1974 Diagonale Struktur V, with directional arrow on the reverse, nails, graphite on canvas, on wood, 40 x 40 x 8 cm

Literature:
Dieter Honisch, Uecker, Stuttgart 1983, no. 889, p. 240 (first illustration upper left)

Provenance:
Erker Galerie, St. Gallen
Private Collection Stoffel, Hamburg
European Private Collection

Exhibited:
Erker Galerie, St. Gallen, June 1975 (gallery label)

Günther Uecker subordinates nails to a concrete structure in a strict arrangement. There is a precise rhythmic alternation of nails and open spaces that subdivides the entire surface of the picture down to the smallest detail. New perspectives on the image continually open up with the viewer's point of view and the changing light conditions, seemingly leading the picture into a vibrating state, although the hammered-in nails are in fact static.

Before the nail pictures could reach such a dynamic state, the artist first had to clarify two important points: "Firstly, the question of how the applied structure was to be organised and how it was to relate to the picture, and secondly, in what way the procedure itself could become the subject of the art action." 1 Uecker stated: "My attempt to activate a real space by means of a series of structures, to make it experienceable as a state of purity and of objective aesthetics, led me to new means of design. When I use nails as structural elements, I don't want them to be understood as nails. I want to achieve a vibration with these means that disrupts their orderly relationship to each other, disturbing their geometric order and irritating them."2

The work "Diagonal Structure V" can initially be seen as a pure example of Uecker's emphatic linear arrangements using recorded structures, here in the form of graphite lines, and hammered-in nails. By changing and varying the angle at which the nails are hammered in, however, he breaks with a strictly linear composition towards the centre of the picture and allows a change of structure that morphs with our point of view. "To make the course of a movement visible, as a state of aliveness in which man participates in creative repetition, in monotony, is indeed an exciting action that can be mentally experienced like a prayer. My objects are a spatial reality, a zone of light. I use mechanical means to overcome the subjective gesture, to objectify, to create a situation of freedom." 3

1  Dieter Honisch, Uecker, (Werkverzeichnis bearbeitet von Harion Haedecke) Stuttgart 1983, No 1, S. 53 Ebd., S. 57
2  Die Schönheit der Bewegung, 1961, in Günther Uecker, Schriften, 1979, S. 105
3  Günther Uecker, in: ZERO 3, Düsseldorf 1961; Nachdruck ZERO 1-3, Heinz Mack und Otto Piene, Köln 1973, S. 220


„Uecker has not only made the nail artful, he has also made nailing artful.“
Dieter Honisch, Uecker, Stuttgart 1983, p. 53

Esperta: Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers

petra.schaepers@dorotheum.de

23.06.2021 - 16:00

Stima:
EUR 140.000,- a EUR 180.000,-

Günther Uecker *


(born in Wendorf in 1940)
Diagonale Struktur V, 1974, signed, dated and titled Uecker 1974 Diagonale Struktur V, with directional arrow on the reverse, nails, graphite on canvas, on wood, 40 x 40 x 8 cm

Literature:
Dieter Honisch, Uecker, Stuttgart 1983, no. 889, p. 240 (first illustration upper left)

Provenance:
Erker Galerie, St. Gallen
Private Collection Stoffel, Hamburg
European Private Collection

Exhibited:
Erker Galerie, St. Gallen, June 1975 (gallery label)

Günther Uecker subordinates nails to a concrete structure in a strict arrangement. There is a precise rhythmic alternation of nails and open spaces that subdivides the entire surface of the picture down to the smallest detail. New perspectives on the image continually open up with the viewer's point of view and the changing light conditions, seemingly leading the picture into a vibrating state, although the hammered-in nails are in fact static.

Before the nail pictures could reach such a dynamic state, the artist first had to clarify two important points: "Firstly, the question of how the applied structure was to be organised and how it was to relate to the picture, and secondly, in what way the procedure itself could become the subject of the art action." 1 Uecker stated: "My attempt to activate a real space by means of a series of structures, to make it experienceable as a state of purity and of objective aesthetics, led me to new means of design. When I use nails as structural elements, I don't want them to be understood as nails. I want to achieve a vibration with these means that disrupts their orderly relationship to each other, disturbing their geometric order and irritating them."2

The work "Diagonal Structure V" can initially be seen as a pure example of Uecker's emphatic linear arrangements using recorded structures, here in the form of graphite lines, and hammered-in nails. By changing and varying the angle at which the nails are hammered in, however, he breaks with a strictly linear composition towards the centre of the picture and allows a change of structure that morphs with our point of view. "To make the course of a movement visible, as a state of aliveness in which man participates in creative repetition, in monotony, is indeed an exciting action that can be mentally experienced like a prayer. My objects are a spatial reality, a zone of light. I use mechanical means to overcome the subjective gesture, to objectify, to create a situation of freedom." 3

1  Dieter Honisch, Uecker, (Werkverzeichnis bearbeitet von Harion Haedecke) Stuttgart 1983, No 1, S. 53 Ebd., S. 57
2  Die Schönheit der Bewegung, 1961, in Günther Uecker, Schriften, 1979, S. 105
3  Günther Uecker, in: ZERO 3, Düsseldorf 1961; Nachdruck ZERO 1-3, Heinz Mack und Otto Piene, Köln 1973, S. 220


„Uecker has not only made the nail artful, he has also made nailing artful.“
Dieter Honisch, Uecker, Stuttgart 1983, p. 53

Esperta: Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers Dr. Petra Maria Schäpers

petra.schaepers@dorotheum.de


Hotline dell'acquirente lun-ven: 10.00 - 17.00
kundendienst@dorotheum.at

+43 1 515 60 200
Asta: Arte contemporanea I
Tipo d'asta: Asta in sala con Live Bidding
Data: 23.06.2021 - 16:00
Luogo dell'asta: Wien | Palais Dorotheum
Esposizione: 17.06. - 23.06.2021