About the work
In 1666, the only 23-year-old Isaac Newton was able to prove that a white ray of light is composed of various threads of coloured light by guiding sunlight through a glass prism. In this way, the young physicist made the seven spectral colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet visible and was also able to unite them again into colourless light. An epochal discovery, which, along with other fundamental physical findings and laws, assured its author a central place in the history of physics.
As one of the most passionate representatives of an art inspired by the colour spectrum of light, Heinz Mack stands out among contemporary painters. His work revolved around the theme of light from the start. Initially light reliefs, rotors and columns in the early works of the ZERO period, the colours of the rainbow spectrum later conquer canvas and paper. Nothing figurative or representational distracts from its presence. Its power and intensity are revealed exclusively in non-representational works, in geometric forms, in patterns and structures.
As also in this delicately coloured pastel work on handmade paper. One must keep in mind here that Heinz Mack is no physicist interested in scientific precision and objective accuracy, but is instead an artist who takes the liberty of playing with the tones of the spectrum: selecting them, allowing for deviations, individual interpretations and aesthetic room to manoeuvre. It is these that characterise the quality and variety of his painting work. In this sheet from 2017, he now deploys a part of the spectrum between red and green, grants his colours a distinct expansion, allows the white of the ground to shine through in many places and incorporates the surface feel of the handmade paper into the design – a wonderful pastel with great sensual charisma.
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.
