Günther Uecker - Ampel - image-1

Lot 512 D

Günther Uecker - Ampel

Auction 1091 - overview Cologne
01.06.2017, 14:00 - Contemporary Art
Estimate: 80.000 € - 120.000 €
Result: 173.600 € (incl. premium)

Günther Uecker

Ampel
1958

Nails on 3 tin lids on canvas on wood. Approx. 54 x 32 x 10 cm. Framed. Signed and dated 'Uecker 58' verso on wood with dedication. - Traces of studio and minor traces of age.

The various colours of the three tin lids, the sheen of the material, their vertical positioning as well as the square form of the canvas-stretched wood all reinforce the association with the picture title. The 'light fields' of the traffic lights are pierced by brown nails through the back of the tin lid, with the points in the direction of the viewer. When moved, the resulting circular fields of nails can be made to vibrate, facilitating the dynamism of the object.
The use of nails as a structural element has been used as a significant component in Günther Uecker's work since 1957. In order to free himself from painting towards the object, Uecker experimented with various material, preferably in their primitive form, as well as nails. Therefore, also in the work 'Ampel', the artist does not conceive an image of reality, but creates an objectless world that manifests itself in symbols, similes and optical approximations of high, sensuous presence and aesthetic effect. […] By means of art, Uecker wants to take the awareness to an 'other reality'; the artwork however should not be a direct visualisation of this new world, but merely a 'tool for experience and thinking processes and a parable of a spiritual development. In this sense, his works are understood as materialising traces of this other reality, which penetrate everyday life.'' (Richard W. Gassen, Unsichtbar Sichtbares sichtbar machen. Kontinuität und Transmutation im Werk der 80er Jahre, in: Richard W. Gassen, Bernhard Holeczek (ed.), Uecker, exhib.cat. Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Heidelberg 1987, p.45-46).

Catalogue Raisonné

Honisch 74

Provenance

Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia