Günther Uecker

(* 1930 Wendorf)
1949 – 1953 Studied painting in Wismar and at the Art Academy in Berlin-Weißensee
1955 – 1957 Studied at the Düsseldorf Art Academy with Otto Pankok
Günther Uecker lives and works in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel and St. Gallen.

In 1961 Günther Uecker joined the artist group ZERO. The group had been founded by Heinz Mack and Otto Piene. ZERO stands for "zero hour". They felt that art was too overburdened and needed a liberation, a new beginning. The group saw their art as a transition, a moment between two states. Together they created fascinating light-kinetic objects and found new ways of representation. It was in this context that the controversially discussed performance of the so-called "Terror Orchestra" took place in the Kunsthalle Basel. Günther Uecker staged a noise machine with more than 20 loud machines such as hoovers.

Günther Uecker succeeded in realising the aims of the ZERO group and enriching art with new impulses. He worked with unusual materials to which he gave a surprising effect: it would have been obvious, for example, to use nails for the splitting or destructive processes of an aggressive art style. Instead, Günther Uecker created fascinating surfaces from building accessories, some of which unfold a meditative aura and invite the viewer to a changed perspective.

The spirituality of many of the artist Günther Uecker's works has been strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism since the 1980s. Due to many journeys to the Far East, he developed an empathy for Zen, a Japanese expression of the Buddhist current. His stays in Peru, Tibet and Japanese Zen gardens in particular had a strong influence on his work. He developed the idea of mobility, which is at the same time immobility. Through his rotations, spirals or sand mills, the artist refers to the constantly renewing and changing beauty of nature and its appearance. The eternal transformation of his moving sculptures becomes synonymous with nature. In addition, his works reflect the focus on the centre, the liberation from oneself, which is achieved with the help of meditation. For Uecker, the motif of the spiral carries an important symbolic power in connection with the Zen tradition. The spiral, with its steady, calm force that leads both inwards and outwards, thus takes up the basic idea that external influences shape us just as much as internal ones. The spiral thus symbolises the freedom of consciousness. The artist repeatedly refers to this philosophy of life and the motif in his complete works. In addition to his nail paintings and embossed prints, Uecker creates elaborate kinetic objects that rotate with the help of motors. Here, too, the motif of the spiral takes on an important role. Large round plates fitted with spirals of nails move in a circle and begin a game with the light reflecting on the nails - rotation is born. The moving nail relief associates in the viewer a series of different images, which according to Uecker has spiritual potential. Thus, the even rotation of the spiral becomes a spiritual practice. Günther Uecker alternates between "spiral" and "rotation" in the title of his embossed prints, as he has drawn inspiration for the graphics either from his nail pictures or from his kinetic objects. The terms spiral and rotation thus do not differ in motif, but come from different genres of the artist's work, which, however, refer to the same philosophy.

After his presence at the Venice Biennale in 1970, he devoted himself increasingly to inspirational journeys that took him to Japan, Siberia and Iceland, among other places. From the 1980s onwards, Uecker increasingly dealt with political themes. The cycle "Aschebilder", which deals with the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, is internationally significant. The self-confessed pacifist had a place of tolerance in mind when he designed the prayer room of the Reichstag building in Berlin in 1999. Numerous awards, including the Federal Cross of Merit with Star, illustrate Uecker's relevance to modern art history. He himself is committed to enabling up-and-coming artists to put their innovative ideas into practice.

In 2008, Uecker founded the "Zero foundation" together with the ZERO artists Heinz Mack and Otto Pinie. The Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, as well as the state capital Düsseldorf, is also involved in the "Zero foundation". The foundation is based in Düsseldorf. One of its goals is to preserve and promote the ZERO movement.