Adolf Luther

Luther intentionally ignored the classical painting utensil, the paintbrush, and used instead other items to apply the paint such as combs or sticks, in order to neutralise the signature of the artist. In his 'Entmaterialisierungen' he pressed two pieces of paint-coated hardboard together leaving the resulting surface structure, when they were pulled apart, to chance. From the beginning of the1960s he began to use light as the primary medium, and moved away from the classical panel format, creating 'Lichtschleusen', 'Hohlspiegelobjekte' and 'Linsenobjekte'. He had contact with the ZERO artists and took part in many joined exhibitions. Spurred on by the scientific discourse 'Licht und Materie' by Louis de Broglie, Luther combined the physical processes with the aesthetic potential of light ('Fokussierender Raum, 1968). In the 1970s, Luther received many commissions to design public spaces such as 'Sphärisches Hohlspiegelobjekt' in front of the Nordkirchen Castle near Münster (1971/72), or a ceiling object in the Düsseldorf concert hall ('Integration', 1978). In 1982, Adolf Luther received the Thorn-Prikker-Ehrenplakette of the City of Krefeld, followed by the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1989.