Heinz Mack
Großes Mosaik (Klang-Farben)
1993/1995
Wall mosaic: coloured glass mosaic stones. 387 x 788 cm. Signed "MACK LINOSSI" in the mosaic in black mosaic stones by Heinz Mack and the mosaic layer Lino Linossi.
The mosaic is based on the painting "Klang-Farben", acrylic on canvas 150 x 180 cm, from 1993 and was executed as a wall mosaic in Cologne in 1995 by the Italian mosaic layers Lino (1947-2003) and Francesca Linossi.
The work can be viewed in Cologne.
For further information:
phone +49 221 925729-32
Heinz Mack transposes his particular interest in light effects in a wide variety of materials and thematic contexts. This also includes works with light-reflecting glass mosaics - always large-format and with an overwhelming presence, conceived for the public and semi-public space. In 1980, the artist created an elaborate fountain ensemble with mosaic surfaces in tones of silver and grey for the Jürgen-Ponto-Platz in Frankfurt; in 1987 he produced two mosaics for the Kö-Galerie in Düsseldorf, and ten years later, a large wall mosaic for the Barberini metro station in Rome. Conceived in 2014, “The Sky Over Nine Columns” featuring nine 8 meter high gold-mosaic pillars, is an installation of extraordinarily powerful radiance. Temporarily erected in Venice, the columns were later moved to Istanbul, Valencia and St. Moritz.
The imposing wall mosaic offered here was conceived by Mack in 1995, based on the painting “Klang-Farben” from 1993 from the “Chromatischen Konstellationen” work group. Here the artist combines the dominant colour blue with contrasting tones reminiscent of the colour spectrum. The examination of the colour spectrum created by the refraction of light has held an important place in the artist's oeuvre since the 1960s. The glazed, superimposed coats of colour make the painting appear multi-layered; the blue fields merge tonally into each other and seem to have been placed over a background of contrasting stripes of paint. Despite the completely different material characteristics, this optical layering is also achieved in the mosaic. Countless small glass stones create a harmony that also permutes the finest colour graduations in a nuanced way. The light thrown back by each glass stone in the slightly irregular surface of the mosaic generates a lively iridescent reflection and gives the colour composition an additional haptic quality.
The mosaic stones were produced by Orsoni, a Venetian company steeped in tradition, with whom the artist had already collaborated for his earlier mosaic projects. The mosaic was laid by the Italian mosaic artist Lino Linossi (1947-2003).
Certificate
We thank Heinz Mack for the information on this work, which he describes as one of his major works within the oeuvre of mosaics.
Provenance
Corporate collection Kaufhof, Cologne
Literature
Heinz Mack, Die Mosaike, 2012, cat.no.14 with colour illus. and unpag. with illus. of a detail of the Mosaic
Anna-Maria Ehrmann-Schindlbeck (Hg.), Heinz Mack, Licht, Farbe, Bewegung, exhib.cat. Jenoptik, Jena 1999, p.53 (Mosaic)
Heinz Mack, Ars Urbana, Kunst für die Stadt, 1952 - 2008, München 2008, cat.no.191, p.232 with colour illus. (Mosaic)
Heinz Mack, Im Zeichen der Sternzeit, Neue Bilder, Neue Skulpturen, exhib.cat. Galerie Heinz Holtmann, Köln 1996, unpag. (Mosaic)
Heinz Mack, Malerei 1991 - 2001, Mönchengladbach 2001, cat.no.136, p.169 with colour illus. (here with an illus. of the painting)
Exhibitions
Dusseldorf 1994 (Galerie Schoeller), Mack, Neue Arbeiten 1992-93, exhib.cat., p.81 with colour illus. (here with an illus. of the painting)