Skulpturenpark Köln

With 100 solo and numerous important group exhibitions such as documenta, the Venice Biennale or Skulptur Projekte Münster, Ulrich Rückriem (b. 1938 in Düsseldorf) counts as one of the most important sculptors in the second half of the 20th century. As far back as the 1960s he was one of the most interesting exponents of Minimalism in Europe. He was a major influence on the development of modern sculpture, in that he turned entirely away from classical subjects and techniques of traditional figurative sculpture to explore the fundamental problems of the genre: size, volume, material and their relationship to the surrounding space.

Ulrich Rückriem can be understood as the sculptor who made the genesis and visual recapitulation of a work component of his sculpture. In this black granite piece, the artist shows all the possible technical methods of production - the splitting, cutting and sanding of the stone - whose volume parts he then fuses together to a block from within whose interior the most elementary geometric form is produced by serial partitioning. His work - represented in the Sculpture Park Cologne by another sculpture out of granite - can be seen as a matrix for conceiving of new creative ways and as a leitmotif for inviting young artists and their innovative artistic conceptions.

Ulrich Rückriem lives and works in London.

Ulrich Rückriem's (born 1938 in Düsseldorf) work is characterised by a focus on the stone block. Workmanship and cutting the piece in the quarry are decisive for this aesthetic. To support the impression of solidity, Rückriem dispenses with the plinth. Placing the pieces in this way underlines the stableness of the tectonic block. At Skulpturenpark Köln, the stones are embedded in the ground, growing out of it like mute steles. ''Granit Bleu de Vire'' is a four-stone ensemble placed on a square floor plan. The titles of Rückriem's works refer to place of origin, variety of stone and technique. The blocks are equal in measure yet individualised by their surface structure and the way they broke. The empty spaces between them are enlarged joints and negative forms of the stones. At the same time they form light-guiding narrows in a four-part monument garden.