Poetic Dream Machines
Following his studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Günter Haese (1924–2016) discovered brass wire, phosphor bronze and spring steel, clock wheels, coil springs and jewellery-making components as his sculptural material. With the filigree spatial sculptures he then created, Haese swiftly gained international recognition in the early 1960s.
In their poetic delicacy and wilful grace, Haese’s creations are remarkably appealing entities. They combine the constructive precision of technical devices with the individual growth forms of natural organisms; every breath of air sets them lightly in motion.
This exhibition, which was conceived in close collaboration with the Museum Lothar Fischer in Neumarkt (Upper Palatinate) and the Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl, brings together around 25 works from the artist’s estate, supplemented by works from two Hamburg collections. Along with sculpture, the presentation also features early monotypes in which Haese prepared his ‘spatial drawings’.
“I’m not concerned with volumes or mass, but with the balancing out of heaviness and lightness, with the density or porousness of the materials. It’s the attempt to translate drawn elements into space.”
Günter Haese, 2014
