Gerhard Graevenitz
20.01. – 24.02.2013

“…13 reference figures
reference figures to which the insight into the possible scope of play refers
reference figures to whose scope of play I refer
reference figures to whose play character I refer
having started with something once and stuck to it makes for a clear memory
having started with something once and stuck to it cannot be forgotten again
reference figures to whose model character I refer.”

Quoted from: Helmut Heißenbüttel, blurb no. 33 for Gerhard von Graevenitz 16.6.74, with kind permission of Dietrich Heißenbüttel

These lines are from the accompanying text to the artist’s first exhibition in the Kunsthalle Bremerhaven in 1974 and outline the framework in which Gerhard von Graevenitz (1934-1983) created his works. Gerhard von Graevenitz’s artistic interest lay in the investigation and visualization of phenomena such as movement, light, space, time, structure, chance or progression. He is considered one of the most consistent representatives of constructive-concrete art of the younger generation, who was particularly interested in kinetics.
His first works in the late 1950s were monochrome reliefs. From 1960 onwards he began to design kinetic objects, so-called “play objects”. With their slowly moving basic geometric shapes, they elude rapid optical perception and at the same time dissolve the traditional statics of visual art. Graevenitz has been working with prints since 1961 in individual works or series. Here again he dealt with the questions within the structures and the phenomena of perception. If the movement in the kinetic objects is real, it can only be understood in the graphics through the irritation of the viewer. In 1962, Graevenitz used the new technical possibilities of computer graphics for the first time, using them to create graphic series with geometrically ordered grid structures.
After initially working arbitrarily with materials and artistic procedures, Graevenitz began to systematically influence the creative process with regard to planned and random results. This systematization was related to the “Nouvelle Tendance” group, which he co-founded in 1962 and whose goal was to involve the viewer and “demystify” art. For these purposes, chance played an important role as an aesthetic category.
The Kunstverein Bremerhaven commemorates this unusual artist with a selection of his kinetic objects and a series of screen print series.

Curated by Jürgen Wesseler.