Lot 606 D

The sculptural work by Norbert Kricke eludes clear interpretation and definite classification. His sculptures can be neither ascribed to the Informel nor to Minimal Art; their carefully composed, subtle shapes interact with space, time, and motion in a complex manner.
The artist summarises his intentions in a well-known quote: “My problem is not mass, not shape, but space and motion - space and time. I do not want to portray real space or real motion (mobile), I want to depict movement. I seek to give shape to the entity of space and time.” (Norbert Kricke, exhib.cat. Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum der Stadt Duisburg/Städtische Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, Dusseldorf 1975, p.20).
Following the first wire sculptures of the early 1950s, which with their self-contained shapes connected to the base are reminiscent of architectural models, the sculptures develop a little later to dynamic constructions attached to the base at just one spot, diagonally protruding far into the surrounding space. Their lines shoot outward like rays, retracting in acute angles and swinging back out again with new rapid momentum.
These sculptures seemingly defy gravity and visualise a self-contained, continuous course of motion. Obtuse angles and shorter lines distinguish “slower” areas from particularly “fast” areas with long stretches and acute angles. In order to further define the varying “pace” within the sculpture, the artist applied colour. The colours white and a bright yellow symbolise the fast areas, black and dark red the slow ones.

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