Günter Haese

Günter Haese Minerva 1978 Brass and phosphor bronze. 64.5 x 50.5 x 9 cm. - Traces of studio and minor traces of age. Herwig Guratzsch (ed.), Günter Haese Verzeichnis der Skulpturen, Ostfildern-Ruit 2002, cat.rais. no.132 (catalogue raisonné by Claudia Postel) Provenance Galerie Lopes, Zurich (1979); private collection, Switzerland Exhibitions Nuremberg 1979 (Albrecht-Dürer-Gesellschaft in the Germanischen Nationalmuseum), Günter Haese, Raumgrafiken, exhib.cat.no.16, n.p. with illus. Zurich 1978 (Galerie Lopez), Lübeck (Overbeck Gesellschaft), Linz 1978/1979 (Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz), Mannheim 1979 (Kunstverein), Esslingen (Kunstverein), Günter Haese, exhib.cat.no.16 (resp. exhib.cat.no.17 in cat. II), each with illus. “For Haese, there is a wide field of possibilities for variation within the chosen limits. The scope of formal instruments between open, organ-like forms and sophisticated, crystalline symmetry opens up wide perspectives, especially when one considers Günter Haese’s diligent but entirely unvirtuous working method, his critical self-control during the different stages of the creation process. In his workshop, raw materials and semi-finished products for his works are spread out on many small surfaces, between which stand the workpieces that are created in small steps and out of which the future components literally grow gradually out the materials that surround them. More than in the past, the contours of bizarre inventions recede as opposed to calmly condensed basic forms such as circle, arc, and rectangle. In these, the fragile, mobile interior is also densely arranged in small-scale and in a compact, rhythmically animated manner. Entire arsenals of embedded elements unfold an existence that at first glance appears to be identical, but by closer consideration is varying, yet socialised. A particular area of expression is developed by the metal mesh which is transformed into spatial structures and becomes apparent as a carrier of manifold, sculptural values. Added to this is the diaphaneity, changing continually according to volume, mesh density, and angle of view, whereby combined flat and curved elements almost suggest the sensuality of living beings even without the element of movement.” (Hans von den Grinten (ed.), Ewald Matare und seine Schüler, exhib. cat. i.a. Kestner Gesellschaft Hanover, Berlin 1979, p.123)