Lot 514 D

„'I ignited solvent … pictures grew within seconds on a borderline between destruction and survival - the ‚Fire Flowers'.' One can deduct from instructive portrait photographs which show Piene at work with fire that in addition to the selection of media and colours, the artist limits himself to steering the development of the flame solely by the various turns of the supporting background; and of course, he determines the beginning and end of the burning process. The result reflects this process: the colours of an often vivid variety are unified into a self-contained image through tracks of soot or else real bubble formations. A shape emerges which more or less invites us to make associations, but no less do we get the impression that a movement, a flow or streaming has been arrested on the surface of the picture.” (Jürgen Wißmann, in: Ante Glibota, Otto Piene, Villorba 2011, p.244).