Otto Piene
Otto Piene, born in the year 1928 in Laasphe in North Rhine-Westphalia, was one of the most important contemporary artists of our time.
Fire, earth and metal: Otto Pienes artistic cosmos elementary forces are at work. His wall reliefs and sculptures out of clay develop an irritating appeal due to the subtle mixture of archaic and modern elements.
His raster pictures in gold and platinum document his joy of experimenting and his delight in technic, which stayed with him all his life.
From fire and smoke evolved the masterpieces of Otto Piene. To create his smoke-pictures Piene blackened the canvas and burned the paint; for his fire-gouache he burned the paper until it all most turned to carbon.
Dynamic and movement are the characteristic elements of his large scale, figurative drawings from the early 1970ies.
Rare and unique these exceptional pictures represent the versatility of the modern classic.
At least Otto Piene lived and worked in Groton, Massachusetts and in Duesseldorf, Germany. Piene died on July 17, 2014 in Berlin while in a taxi on his way to continue preparations for a 'Sky Art Event' at Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin.
Foto: ©Christian Altengarten
