Seeing the Light

Heinz Mack at Arndt Berlin

By Kate Dannies

 Painter, sculptor, rebel and ZERO movement founder Heinz Mack is a legend in the art world. Known for his anti-establishment stance, singularly powerful works and wide use of vivid colours and textures, Mack’s repertoire is as diverse as it is recognizably his.

 

The current exhibition, entitled Heinz Mack in Berlin – Works from 1958-2012 is a collection of the artist’s major works from the various periods that have defined his extensive career. Works on display will include museum pieces as well as works from private collection. Selected pieces will be available for sale as well, offering a rare opportunity to acquire an original Heinz Mack.

 

 

 

Visitors will be treated to works such as Black & White (1958) and ZERO period works like White Relief(1959), among many others. The extensive exhibition covers over five hundred square meters and incorporates forty paintings, reliefs, sculptures, kinetic works and works on paper. The included pieces are organised around the theme of Berlin, reflecting Mack’s homage to a city upon which he has left an indelible mark during the course of his career.

In evoking Mack’s relationship with the city, the exhibition shows how his influence has pervaded the city’s artistic culture through public sculpture and mentoring younger artists, as well as the presence of his work in local galleries, museums and private collections. This is the first exhibition that explores the artist’s relationship with his city, a fitting theme for a masterful retrospective that demonstrates a powerful mutual influence and inspiration.

The exhibition demonstrates Mack’s tireless production over the last 60 years, showcasing his wide range of techniques and venues of expression, and his commitment to progress and development in his work. Mack is committed to understanding and representing light in its infinite dimensions, and the artist is considered one of the pioneers of OP and kinetic art in Germany, a movement that is just beginning to be recognized and traced seriously. As Mack’s influence becomes more recognizable in contemporary art, the artist’s profile continues to rise in both Germany and beyond.

The artist’s humanist philosophy is apparent in the organicism of his work, which is inspired by poetry, technology and natural science. Light forms the nexus of his focus: how it works, what is does, and how it can be understood. For Mack, light is a spiritual force that is manifested within space in a dialectical relationship with shadow. All of the artist’s pieces are, on some level, and exploration of this question, uniting his work across time and medium.

Mack’s pieces are spiritual and optimistic while remaining grounded in the reality of discrete space. His works are both highly modern and aesthetically pleasing, and are equally at home on the wall of a museum and in the repertoire of a private home. Indeed, Mack’s works have found their places in museums, galleries and public spaces across the world, most notably in Germany, but also in New York, Paris and Teheran.

This exhibition offers a refreshingly aesthetic and philosophical take on modern art, and a meditation on the relationship between and artist and his city, and is not to be missed. Extra points for snatching up an original before the incredible contribution of Heinz Mack is fully understood.