About the work
The various bands of colour overlap gently and flow into one another. Overlaps of the shades are recognisable at the respective edges of the various colour areas. Each colour has its own effect and generates its specific charisma. This is one of the special features of the Colour Chromaticisms of Heinz Mack. A lower section of the painting, horizontally staggered in blue and green, carries the centrally placed dark blue colour segment, which is as a consequence gently held at this height by a yellow and an orange colour area. The lower section of the painting appears rather cool, thus allowing the centrally positioned blue to generate an intensive depth effect. The two upper bands of colour on the other hand radiate a warm lightness. In a quite self-explanatory manner, the ZERO co-founder also deploys the specific effects of the colours, but Mack is primarily interested in the coherence of light and colour, or the effect of light as colour. He became known for, among other things, his experimental light reliefs and his light installations in the desert, which are among the earliest examples of Land Art.
The individual colour segments of this pastel are not arranged as monochrome and unified colour areas. Instead, each colour area has its own internal structure. The colour is here no longer modulated with different colour values, as was of decisive importance for Paul Cézanne and his successors with respect to the image effect. Heinz Mack modulates the colour through the differing density of the same colour value. The flaky style of application and the grid-like internal structuring are decisive to this end.
Text authored and provided by Dr Andrea Fink, art historian
The art historian, curator and freelance publicist Andrea Fink studied art history, cultural studies and humanities, modern history and philosophy in Bochum and Vienna. Doctorate in 2007 on the work of the Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay. As a freelance curator and art consultant, her clients include, among others, the Kunstverein (art association) Ahlen, Kunstverein Soest, Wella Museum, Museum am Ostwall Dortmund, ThyssenKrupp AG, Kulturstiftung Ruhr, Osthaus Museum Hagen, Franz Haniel GmbH, Kunsthalle Krems, Austria.
