Back from Koln

Just returned from spending time with Ulrich Ruckriem in Köln, Germany. For those who don’t know his work, here’s a quick introduction:

A couple of sites featuring gallery installations:
http://www.donaldyoung.com/ruckriem/ruckriem_index.html

http://www.artseensoho.com/Art/ACE/ruckriem98/ruckriem1.html

A couple of sites public art works:
This one shows the projects that I commissioned in Radcliffe
http://www.irwellsculpturetrail.co.uk/trailitem.asp?ID=19
This one is the piece currently showing at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park
http://www.ysp.co.uk/view.asp?id=213

Anyway, I had a great time working in his studio and managed to finish the publication which accompanies my show in Edinburgh in May. And in long conversations got an insight into where Ulrich’s work has moved to. In most people’s mind his work is characterised by huge stone installations (of which there are still 12 commissions still in the pipeline in the next 2 years) but the latest works feature a remarkable departure – dematerialising the object completely in favour of geometric projects of its absence accompanied by a massive output of drawings. The only site you can see an example that I know of is from the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford.

http://www.modernartoxford.org.uk/Exhibitions/index.php?cmd=archive&id=33