GÜNTHER UECKER

Art can make a difference in that it can function as a useful tool or utensil. Or something sharp and penetrating that can stimulate dialogue, sometimes halting, sometimes touching… With my artwork, I am able to produce concrete objects that can’t be overlooked and which in the best-case scenario can also stimulate dialogue. That, I believe, is what art can achieve. It can’t possibly do more.
—Günther Uecker

An exemplar of Günther Uecker’s signature nail paintings, Doppel Spirale (Double Spiral, 2012) is structured around two coils that radiate outward and intersect, conveying two counterposing forces coming together with clashing dynamism. To create his nail paintings, Uecker stretches canvas over thick panels of wood; works a mixture of white pigment and carpenter’s glue into a dense, visceral surface; then hammers nails into the panels, varying their placement, angle, and compositions intuitively to form undulating painted reliefs. Embodying forces of growth and movement, unity and disruption, order and entropy, Doppel Spirale epitomizes the fluidity and imposing material presence of the artist’s recent work.

GÜNTHER UECKER
Doppel Spirale
2012
15
78 3/4 x 59 1/16 inches (200 x 150 cm)
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn