About the work
Neither overwhelming Baroque opulence nor the sensual vehemence of the expressive are his thing. And as multi-faceted as the colourfulness of his works appear, never does Heinz Mack dispense with the reduction and clarity of a stringent formal principle, with the ordering power of the structure in the surface.
“The structure is important. Western painting has been based on central perspective since the Renaissance. It was first the analytical cubism of Picasso that turned everything on its head. That was an unbelievable feat. Structure once again plays an important role, in music since Stockhausen, Philip Glass, Terry Riley and György Ligeti. However, even the natural scientists do not actually observe nature, but instead analyse the structures through the electron-scan microscope. Oriental and Asian art is two-dimensional.”
The slim vertical format from 2017 presents itself with a colour gradient from blue to green in numerous gradations from top to bottom. Seemingly minimalist, but at the same time of great painterly finesse in the harmonious pervasion of the hues. Not least the execution in pastel with its powdery pigments causes the colours to pulse and begin to vibrate; the hues interact with one another in harmonious vibration.
( Doris Hansmann )
Text authored and provided by Dr. Doris Hansmann, Art historian
Studies of art history, theater, film and television, English and Romance Languages at the University of Cologne, doctorated in 1994. Research assistant at the Art Museum Düsseldorf. Lecturer and project manager at Wienand Verlag, Cologne. Freelance work as an author, editor and book producer for publishers and museums in Germany and abroad. From 2011 chief editor at Wienand Verlag, from 2019 to 2021 senior editor at DCV, Dr. Cantz’sche Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin. Numerous publications on the art of the 20th and 21st centuries.
