Lot 21 R

„George Rickey's kinetic sculptures are composed almost entirely of straight-edged shapes - long tapering blades and rectangular or square planes of stainless steel. But the trajectories that these rectilinear shapes draw in space are curved. The distinction is important because, for Rickey, the movements of forms shaping space are of greater interest than the forms themselves. Motion, speed and duration are his real materials. He explores a counterpoint of visible and invisible geometry in constructions that are as simple and straightforward as Shaker tools, but as mysterious in their implications as God's compass in Medieval images of Genesis. Though Rickey's sculptures move simply and along defined paths, their activity is determined by the whims of wind and is thus complex, random, endlessly intriguing. […] His preference in motion is for slowness, smoothness and silence, just as his preference in shape is for spare simplicity. This aesthetic stems from his desire that nothing should distract from the articulation of space by movement. The slow, fluctuating pace of his sculptures is subtle and suspenseful, not purposeful or mechanical. Slow movements engage the viewer's attention cumulatively through time; one does not merely look at a Rickey sculpture, one watch it, as one might watch waves.” (Hayden Herrera, in: George Rickey. Skulpturen Material Technik, exhib. Cat. Amerika Haus Berlin 1979, p.12/13).