Günther Uecker: Notations - Lévy Gorvy
  • Installation view of Günther Uecker's Notations exhibition at Lévy Gorvy New York, 2019

    Installation view, Günther Uecker: Notations, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Elisabeth Bernstein

  • Installation view of Günther Uecker's Notations exhibition at Lévy Gorvy New York, 2019

    Installation view, Günther Uecker: Notations, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Elisabeth Bernstein

  • Installation view of Günther Uecker's Notations exhibition at Lévy Gorvy New York, 2019

    Installation view, Günther Uecker: Notations, Lévy Gorvy, New York, 2019. Photo: Elisabeth Bernstein

Günther Uecker: NotationsExhibitions

New York
November 7, 2019 - January 25, 2020

 

Opening Reception

Wednesday, November 6, 6-8PM

Günther Uecker: Notations

Günther Uecker: Notations brings together new large-scale nail paintings with a selection of watercolors from series made by Uecker during his global travels over the past three decades. The exhibition is the first to juxtapose these disparate bodies of work, which together provide deeper insight into Uecker’s practice and the sociopolitical concerns that have informed his artistic efforts over the past 60 years. Notations is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery in New York, and will be on view through January 25, 2020.

To create his signature nail paintings, Uecker stretches canvas over thick panels of wood; works a mixture of white paint and carpenter’s glue into a dense, visceral surface; then hammers nails into the panels, varying their placement, angle, and groupings intuitively to form undulating painted reliefs that cast shadows in constant motion. Unified by pictorial composition and material presence, the nails project out into the viewer’s space, suggesting forces of growth and movement, unity and disruption, order and entropy. A highlight of this new series is Weisser Schrei (White Scream), a painting Uecker describes as a self-portrait.

Uecker’s watercolors reveal a wholly different but essential part of the artist’s practice. Autonomous from but parallel to his studio work, the watercolors are made spontaneously “on the road” by an inveterate traveler responding to his experiences in far-flung locales. In the tradition of the Romantics, Uecker records the intense sensations evoked by landscapes, plant life, architecture, and qualities of light and atmosphere. Abstracting these encounters into idiosyncratic forms and intense colors, Uecker’s watercolors capture the artist’s sense of wonder at the natural world. Through these watercolors, Notations will explore the impact that Uecker’s travels across Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Germany, Israel, Japan, the United States, Vietnam, and other places have had upon him as an artist.

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Selected Works

  • Günther Uecker's nail painting Doppelspirale, 2019

    Günther Uecker
    Doppelspirale “Both”
    2019
    Nails and white paint on canvas on wood
    78 3/4 x 62 x 9/10 inches (200 x 160 cm)
    © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
    Photo: Ivo Faber

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  • Günther Uecker's watercolor Leviathan, 1991

    Günther Uecker
    Leviathan
    1991
    watercolor on handmade paper
    6 1/10 x 8 1/4 inches (15.5 x 21 cm)
    From the series Leviathan
    © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
    Photo: Ivo Faber

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  • Photograph of Günther Uecker with large nail in the desert

    Günther Uecker
    Action Libyan Desert, 1977
    Where Two Lines Meet is a Point, That's Where I Drive My Nail In.
    Courtesy of the Artist, Uecker Archiv.
    © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
    © Wilfried Kaute

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  • Günther Uecker's nail painting Schauer, 2019

    Günther Uecker
    Schauer
    2019
    Nails and white paint on canvas on wood
    78 3/4 x 62 x 9/10 inches (200 x 160 cm)
    © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
    Photo: Ivo Faber

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  • Günther Uecker's watercolor Wolken, 1992

    Günther Uecker
    Wolken
    1992
    watercolor on handmade paper
    5 3/10 x 7 1/2 inches (13.5 x 19 cm)
    From the series Wolken
    © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
    Photo: Ivo Faber

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Publications

Selected Press

Galleries Now | Günther Uecker: Notations

November 15, 2019

Lévy Gorvy presents Günther Uecker: Notations, the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery …

Frieze | Günther Uecker Nails It Again

November 15, 2019

Whatever you are doing right now, there is a good chance that Günther Uecker is hammering. Now almost …

Galleries Now | Günther Uecker: Notations

October 28, 2019

Lévy Gorvy presents Günther Uecker: Notations, the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery …

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