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Lot Essay
'When I use nails my aim is to establish a structured pattern of relationships in order to set vibrations in motion that disturb and irritate their geometric order. What is important to me is variability, which is capable of revealing the beauty of movement to us' (G. Uecker quoted in D. Honisch et al. (eds.), Günther Uecker: Twenty Chapters, Berlin 2006, p. 34).
German Zero artist Günther Uecker started creating his nailed paintings in 1957.
Executed in 1964, Homage to Broadway is an early and deeply hypnotic work by Günther Uecker, dating from the artist's most
exciting period. The work was a gift to the present owner in the year of it's creation and stayed in this private collection. The presentation at Christie's premises will be the first time that this work has been on public display since more than 48 years.
This example of Uecker's iconic form is remarkable in the quality of the forms on display: light as it passes through and over the relief, breaking into shadows that momentarily transform the work and presents the viewer a stunningly seductive optical experience. As Uecker has described: 'my works acquire their reality through light... their intensity is changeable due to the light impinging on them which, from the viewer's standpoint is variable' (G. Uecker quoted in D. Honisch, Uecker, New York 1983, p. 28).
This classic Günther Uecker work truly shows this celebrated German artist at his height - as a master of optical manipulation, light and shadow, and frozen movement.
German Zero artist Günther Uecker started creating his nailed paintings in 1957.
Executed in 1964, Homage to Broadway is an early and deeply hypnotic work by Günther Uecker, dating from the artist's most
exciting period. The work was a gift to the present owner in the year of it's creation and stayed in this private collection. The presentation at Christie's premises will be the first time that this work has been on public display since more than 48 years.
This example of Uecker's iconic form is remarkable in the quality of the forms on display: light as it passes through and over the relief, breaking into shadows that momentarily transform the work and presents the viewer a stunningly seductive optical experience. As Uecker has described: 'my works acquire their reality through light... their intensity is changeable due to the light impinging on them which, from the viewer's standpoint is variable' (G. Uecker quoted in D. Honisch, Uecker, New York 1983, p. 28).
This classic Günther Uecker work truly shows this celebrated German artist at his height - as a master of optical manipulation, light and shadow, and frozen movement.