Uecker, Guenther

They appear again and again in the works of the painter and object artist Günther Uecker: Nails. He became renowned above all for his relief-like paper prints of nails. He began his career by studying painting in Wismar, which he later continued in Berlin Weißensee. He was a master student of his great artistic inspiration Otto Pankok at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf, where he later taught as a professor himself. His works, often described as kinetic art, prompted him to join the Zero group of artists. The Zero group was formed as a reaction to German Informel and emerged as a new beginning in the post-war period, emancipating themselves from classical art genres and traditions. Their main interest lay in creating a clear aesthetic with pure light. Through the influence of Zero artists Otto Piene and Hans Mack, Günther Uecker became increasingly involved with kinetic light art.
 

After the dissolution of Zero in 1962, Uecker concentrated more and more passionately on iron nails, with which he seemed to have found his main creative medium from then on. He repeatedly draped everyday objects with this trivial yet exciting material. Countless nails on furniture often give the impression of a dynamic swarm. Painterly objects formed in this way appear like frozen moments of organic movement. In his new works, kinetic light art merges with the painterly and sculptural level of the nail works. He begins to produce paper impressions of nails. The three-dimensionality of these white reliefs, which constantly give rise to new images through the incidence of light and shadow, testify to a sensual and lively stillness.
 

Although Günther Uecker's nail paintings made him one of the most respected artists of the avant-garde, he is also known for installations with materials such as sand and wood, as well as calligraphic prints and subtle watercolors. Traces of nails, however, never disappear completely. In his embossed prints, he repeatedly creates impressive compositional stimuli through swarm-like forms, lines and dynamic structures. With experimental techniques such as screen printing on sand, lithographic prints of nail head rows, flows and embossed prints, Uecker ushered in a new age of graphic art. In his series of works entitled “Optical Scores”, he combines the stylistic devices of embossed printing and lithography.