Heiner Thiel (born January 14, 1957) is a German sculptor and curator. He is an exponent of concrete art. ''Untitled'', 2016

Life

Thiel studied

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic vis ...

from 1978 to 1982 at the

Johannes Gutenberg University The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (german: Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) is a public university, public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. With approx ...

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, and then went to the Städelschule in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

from 1983 to 1985. There he studied sculpture under . In 1985 he received an award for most promising artist in visual arts of the town of Mainz. The following year he won the most promising award of the federal state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

. In 1998 Thiel was awarded a scholarship by the – . Thiel is a member of the

Darmstädter Sezession The Darmstädter Sezession (Darmstadt Secession) is an association of visual artists based in Darmstadt, Germany. It was founded in 1919. When it was revived in 1945, it was sometimes also called Neue Darmstädter Sezession (New Darmstadt Secession ...

and the ("association of visual artists in the Middle Rhine").

Work

Heiner Thiel works with a variety of sculptural materials. In the 1970s he was fascinated by bronze casting, but in the 1980s he began to experiment with steel sheets, which he pretreated in a complex painting process. He then formed these steel sheets into abstract wall reliefs. Depending on the angle of view, one seems to see a different object, parts of the relief appear in the foreground or disappear, bring out the illusions of perception and thus invite reflection on the theme of perspective. Thiel designed similar works in the 1990s with his cube-like wall objects made of

Metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

. Here too, the perspective changes with the viewer's movement in front of the work: «You can observe how the perspective space gradually unfolds until it reaches its optimum form and depth during the shift in position« (in German: «Man kann während der Positionsverschiebung beobachten, wie sich der perspektivische Raum sukzessive entfaltet, bis er seine optimale Form und Tiefe erreicht hat.«) Heiner Thiel, Untitled 1993 (Wvz193)

The game with the different perspectives revolves around the central question in Thiel's work: «In my artistic work, I am particularly interested in the' border area' between surface, space and colour: when does a space become a space? And what role does color play in this?« (in German: «In meiner künstlerischen Arbeit interessiert mich besonders der 'Grenzbereich' zwischen Fläche, Raum und Farbe: wann wird eine Fläche räumlich und wann ein Körper flächig? Und welche Rolle spielt dabei die Farbe?«)

Color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

forms one of the central themes in Thiel's more recent works and adds the dimension of light or shadow to the interplay with perspectives, thus creating new experiences of perception for the viewer. At the end of the 1990s, works of aluminium sheet metal were created, which were either concave or convex in shape and provided with a paint application. The paint is applied by

anodising Anodizing is an electrolytic passivation process used to increase the thickness of the natural oxide layer on the surface of metal parts. The process is called ''anodizing'' because the part to be treated forms the anode electrode of an electr ...

and is only 20 thousandths of a mm thick. The production and pre-processing of the aluminium sheets is also carried out industrially, they are parts of large ball elements that are needed for the industry. Michael Post characterizes this technique:«The method of anodizing allows the creation of colorfulness without the material substance of color becoming visible.« (in German: «Die Methode des Eloxierens gestattet die Herstellung von Farbigkeit, ohne dass die materielle Substanz der Farbe sichtbar wird.«) Once again, Thiel focuses on the viewer's perceptions in these works: viewed from a distance, the concave or convex element of the work loses itself and the work appears like an ordinary square with normal edges. However, when you look from the side, the work begins to emerge from the wall and the curvature becomes overly clear. In addition, the lighting of the values has an influence on perception, the shadow cast by the respective work becomes part of the mystery picture of perception. Hans Zitko writes:«In this event, the objects gain the character of phantoms, which are able to change their form and structure under the glances of the subject«. (in German: «In diesem Geschehen gewinnen die Objekte verschiedentlich den Charakter von Phantomen, die ihre Form und Struktur unter den Blicken des Subjekts zu verändern vermögen.«)

Collections

Bundeskunstsammlung The Bundeskunstsammlung (Sammlung zeitgenössischer Kunst der Bundesrepublik Deutschland) - The Federal Collection of Contemporary Art, is a collection of modern works of art held by the government of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. Base ...

, Berlin, Deutschland * Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

* Art collection of the

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

, Frankfurt, Germany * Art collection of the

Deutsche Bundesbank The Deutsche Bundesbank (), literally "German Federal Bank", is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Due to its strength and former size, the Bundesbank is the most ...

, Frankfurt, Germany * Art collection of the

Union Investment Union Investment (; formal name Union Asset Management Holding AG) is the investment arm of the DZ Bank Group and part of the cooperative financial services network. It was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Frankfurt. Trading in open-en ...

, Frankfurt, Germany * ("museum of concrete art"), Ingolstadt, Germany * , Kaiserslautern, Germany *

Landesmuseum Mainz The Landesmuseum Mainz, or Mainz State Museum, is a museum of art and history in Mainz, Germany. In March 2010 it reopened in full after an extensive renovation. The museum has its roots in a painting collection donated by Napoleon and Chapta ...

, Mainz, Germany * Ministry of Education, Science, Youth and Culture of the Federal State

, Germany * State Chancellery of the Federal State

, Mainz, Germany *

Kunsthalle Mannheim The Kunsthalle Mannheim is a museum of modern and contemporary art, built in 1907, established in 1909 and located in Mannheim, Germany. Since then it has housed the city's art collections as well as temporary exhibitions – and up to 1927 those ...

, Mannheim, Germany * ("museum of non-objective art"), Otterndorf, Germany * Art collection of Maximilian und Agathe Weishaupt (), München, Germany

Solo exhibitions

* 2000: ''Heiner Thiel - New Works'', Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Newport Beach, USA * 2004: ''Heiner Thiel – Linie – Fläche – Farbe – Raum'', Haus Metternich, Koblenz, Germany * 2008: ''La Vérité Tordue de L'éspace'', Imprints Galerie, Piégros-la-Clastre, France * 2009: ''Oktahedron'', Galerie Lindner, Wien, Austria * 2016: ''La Surface de la Couleur'', édition multiples un, Paris, France * 2016: ''Heiner Thiel'', Imprints Galerie, Crest, Drôme, France * 2017: ''Heiner Thiel – Werkschau 40 Jahre'', Museum Wilhelm Morgner, Sammlung Schroth Soest, Germany

Group exhibitions

* 2008: ''Works on Paper'', Natalie and Irving Forman Collection, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA * 2008: ''Im Blickpunkt: Skulptur'',

, Mannheim, Germany * 2012: ''Heiner Thiel – Matthew Tyson'', Emma Hill Fine Art-The Eagle Gallery, London, England * 2013: ''Embodying Colour'', Museum Wiesbaden, Germany * 2014: ''Embodying Colour'', Budapest, Vasarely Museum, Hungary * 2015: ''Schwarz auf Weiss'', Highlights aus der Sammlung Maximilian und Agathe Weishaupt und der Stiftung für Konkrete Kunst und Design, Museum für Konkrete Kunst (Highlights of the Collection of Maximilian and Agathe Weishaupt and the Foundation for Conrete Art and Design of the Museum of Concrete Art), Ingolstadt, Germany * 2017: ''Power Play'', Charlotte Jackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, United States * 2018: ''Ecken und Kanten – Edges and Ridges'', Galerie Renate Bender, München, Germany * 2018: ''Stefan Forler, Heiner Thiel: Plastische Objekte'', Kunstverein Pirmasens, Germany * 2019: ''Mostly blue'', Charlotte Kackson Fine Art, Santa Fe, United Nations * 2019: ''Embodying Colour V'', Sammlung Schroth at the Museum–Wilhelm-Morgner, Soest, Germany * 2019: ''Form und Farbe. Kabinettausstellung Tatsushi Kawanabe, Gert Riel, Heiner Thiel'' (''Form and Color. Cabinet exhibition of Tatsushi Kwanabe, Gert Riel, Heiner Thiel''), Galerie Linde Hollinger, Ladenburg,Germany * 2019: ''Expositie Stephan Siebers en Heiner Thiel'' (''Exhibition Stephan Siebers and Heiner Thiel''), Broft Galerie, Leerdam, The Netherlands * 2020: ''Punkt und Linie zur Fläche – frei nach Kandinsky'', Galerie Renate Bender, Munich, Germany * 2020: ''Channeling The Baroque: A Group Exhibition'', Charlotte Jackson Fine Art Galerie, Santa Fe, United States

Art in public places

''Offenes Quadrat'' (English: "Open Square"), 1996, on the Sculpture walk in Karlstal ">Karlstal.html" ;"title="Sculpture walk in [ Sculpture walk in Karlstal * Without year: ''Eternal Light'' (''Ewiges Licht''), Koblenz#Modern era">Festungskirche Ehrenbreitstein * 1996: ''Offenes Quadrat'', Skulpturenweg Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany * 1999: Mural in the conference room of the , Wiesbaden, Germany * 2000: Large sculpture ''Labyrinth'', elementary school in Mainz-Bretzenheim, Germany * 2000: Large sculpture ''Maze'', elementary school in Gerlenhofen, Germany * 2003: Design and configuration of a huge glass mural with coat of arms in the Coat of Arms-Hall of the

Neu-Ulm#Districts">Gerlenhofen, Germany * 2003: Design and configuration of a huge glass mural with coat of arms in the Coat of Arms-Hall of the Landtag Rhineland-Palatinate#Politics">Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

, Germany (together with Michael Post) (temporary installation) * 2005: Mural ''Politeia'' in the foyer of the police headquarters, Westpfalz, Kaiserslautern, Germany (with Michael Post) * 2006: Design and configuration of a second huge glass mural in the Landtag Rhineland-Palatinate, ''Salle d'Amitié'', the coat of arms of the twin towns and regions of

, Germany (with Michael Post) * 2009: Mural in the office of the regional premier of Rhineland-Palatinate in the State Chancellery Rhineland-Palatinate, Mainz, Germany * 2022: Together with the artist Michael Post: Graphic painting at the bridging houses of the Bad Kreuznach police station

Curatorial work

* 2013: Curator of the exhibition ''Embodying Colour'' at the Kunsthalle Wiesbaden (with Heiner Thiel) * 2014: Curator of the exhibition ''Embodying Colour'' Vasarely Museum,

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

* 2015: Curator of the exhibition ''Embodying Colour'' at Haus Metternich, Koblenz, Germany (with Michael Post) * 2019: ''Embodying Colour V'', Sammlung Schroth at the Museum–Wilhelm-Morgner, Soest, Germany * 2021: ''Curated by… Heiner Thiel: Die Verkörperung der Farbe'', Galerie Renate Bender, Munich, Germany

References

External links

Heiner Thiel at artfacts.net

Heiner Thiel at kunstaspekte.art

Webseite of Heiner Thiel

Catalog of the exhibition ''Neuzugänge: Farben – Colours'' at the Sammlung Schroth 22. June until 11. August 2013
*
Website of the artist Heiner Thiel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiel, Heiner Concrete art 1957 births 20th-century German sculptors 20th-century German male artists German male sculptors Living people