UECKER, GÜNTHER
1930 Wendorf–2025 Düsseldorf

Title: "Stream".
Date: 2020.
Technique: Embossing on laid paper.
Depiction Size: 100 x 155 cm.
Sheet Size: 128 x 180 cm.
Notation: Signed, dated, titled and inscribed.
Publisher: Kunstverlag Galerie Till Breckner, Düsseldorf (ed.).
Number: ea.
Frame: Arcylic glass box.


This work is an artist's copy alongside an edition of 70 + 30 (Roman-numbered) copies.



A certificate from the publisher dated 24th October 2023 is available for this work.



Provenance:
- - Kunstverlag Galerie Till Breckner, Düsseldorf

- Private collection North Rhine-Westphalia (acquired from the previous owner)



- Subtly nuanced embossed prints: a captivating interplay of light, shadow, and positive and negative space.

- Uecker’s iconic principles without nails – rhythm, movement and structure in an exceptionally large format.

- Pure white as a symbol of stillness, transcendence and new beginnings – timeless, meditative and in demand worldwide.



The painter, printmaker and object artist Günther Uecker ranks among the most significant representatives of European post-war art. Following his studies in Wismar and Berlin-Weißensee, he moved to Düsseldorf in the mid-1950s, where he continued his artistic education. In 1961, he became a member of the ZERO group, which pursued a radical artistic reorientation centred on light, movement and reduction. Within this context, Uecker developed his iconic nail reliefs, in which rhythmically arranged nails create a vibrating interplay of light and shadow. The colour white functions as a carrier of silence, purity and transcendence, while simultaneously symbolising a new beginning for painting. Influenced by Zen Buddhism, his work combines meditative concentration with an existential dimension; the nails may also be interpreted as symbols of injury and healing. His oeuvre may be situated at the intersection of Kinetic Art, monochrome painting and a spiritually informed material aesthetic.

The work stream (2020) belongs to Uecker’s later oeuvre and translates central principles of his artistic practice into a subtly nuanced medium. In this embossed print on handmade paper, a dense structure of linear elevations unfolds horizontally across the sheet, evoking a sense of flowing movement. The composition recalls currents or concentrations of energy, appearing simultaneously tranquil and dynamic. The pure white surface generates delicate effects of light and shadow that shift according to the viewer’s angle, animating the pictorial space. At the same time, a charged interplay emerges between positive and negative, form and impression. Even without actual nails, their underlying principle remains present: sequence, rhythm and serial arrangement determine the composition. The work stands as an exemplary expression of Uecker’s late phase, characterised by reduction and condensation



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#Günther Uecker #ZERO #Germany #Post-War Art #Print #Abstract #Embossing #2020s #Prints.







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