Otto Piene - R.P.M. - image-1

Lot 670 D

Otto Piene - R.P.M.

Auction 1100 - overview Cologne
02.12.2017, 15:00 - Contemporary Art II
Estimate: 30.000 € - 40.000 €
Result: 37.200 € (incl. premium)

Otto Piene

R.P.M.
1984

Oil and traces of fire on canvas. 68 x 95.5 cm. Framed. Signed, dated, and titled '"R.P.M." OPiene' (joined) '84' verso on canvas. - Traces of studio.

Based on his smoke pictures, Otto Piene developed the first fire pictures from the 1960s in which the element was assigned a compositional role. By burning the fixatives, pigments and oil paints found on the painting surface, as in the present work 'R.P.M.', crusts as well as bubbles are formed which suggest something organic and evoke associations to analogies of nature. The creation process of the fire pictures is influenced by the interplay of coincidence and speed. Above all, a high level of concentration is required of the artist as seconds determine the success of a work. '' I set fire to a solvent . . . and pictures grow within seconds on the threshold between ruination and survival.'' (Otto Piene, Rainbows, Cambridge 1971, p. 23). There is nothing destructive about the process of burning, but rather a creative process is illustrated, reminiscent of a natural event.
Within the work group of the fire images, there is a coupling of fire and light in a two-fold sense, in terms of medium as well as appearance. At the same time a reference to the close relationship between nature and the cosmos is made by the primarily round fire forms.
Until his death in 2014 the artist continued to develop his fire pictures on canvas as well as with gouache on paper and in his graphic works.

Provenance

Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia