Lot 39 D

The sculptor and painter Norbert Kricke is an individualist whose oeuvre defies clear classification. His sculptures can be attributed neither to Informel nor to Minimal Art. He depicts movement in space with minimalist and completely independent means and finds radical, seemingly weightless solutions for this exercise that are as clear as they are poetic.
Following the coloured minimalist “Raumplastiken” with simple, continuous lines from the early 1950s, he moves on to the “Bündelungen”, in which clusters of bent steel wires radiate out from a central point into different directions. At the same time, from 1955/56 onwards, he created the group of works entitled “Flächenbahnen”. These systematise the bundles of steel rods. Staggered lengthwise in rows, they are aligned next to each other as a closed surface. Applying the same formal consistency that already characterises his three-dimensional, open spatial sculptures, Kricke now channels the kinetic energy into a two-dimensional, hermetic wall. In its material dominance, it evokes a completely different, heightened effect. Instead of an explosive movement from the centre of the “Bündelungen”, the dynamics in the “Flächenbahnen” take place in a uniform direction that nevertheless points towards infinity: “The movement on a broad track and with the high speed of the straight lines has the effect of a full-sounding, euphoric impulse. The gaze meets the core zone formed by the light-collecting melt traces of the soldering points of the rods and is moved left and right within the space. This movement, taking place on many lines of the same direction, has a completely different momentum compared to a movement radiating out in only one line. One could also regard the ‘Flächenbahn’ as a wall in which the stability is cancelled out by the horizontal pull of movement.” (Jürgen Morschel, Norbert Kricke, Stuttgart 1976, p.68).
The number of “Flächenbahn” sculptures created is very limited. As is typical for other groups of Kricke’s works, they cover a wide range of dimensions. The “Große Flächenbahn” on offer here was exhibited at documenta III in 1964, the year it was created, together with Kricke’s famous spatial sculpture “Große Mannesmann”. It is exceptional in its size and effect and is only surpassed by “Große Flächenbahn in zwei Ebenen” (1957/59) that can be seen on the façade of the Kleines Haus of the Musiktheater im Revier, Gelsenkirchen.