Oskar Holweck

OSKAR HOLWECK (Germany, 1924 -2007).
"Composition on paper", 1977.
Paper on cardboard.
Dated in the lower right area. Signed and dated on the back.
Measurements: 88 x 70 cm; 106 x 88 cm (frame).
Oskar Holweck was a German artist considered one of the great pioneers of paper art in Europe. Linked from very early on to the influential avant-garde group ZERO, he developed an experimental work centered on the exploration of the essential principles of art: light, movement and space. His first compositions, made with ink, are characterized by serial repetition and free gesture, in tune with post-war European and American abstract currents.
From the mid-fifties onwards he abandoned conventional titles and began to name his works with the exact date of execution, understanding each piece as the immediate record of an instant. Paper became the absolute core of his artistic research. Holweck folded, ripped, perforated, compressed or punctured it using simple tools such as nails, screws or drills, creating radically innovative reliefs and surfaces that he called Reissreliefs ("torn reliefs"). Thanks to this constant experimentation, he is recognized as a key figure in the renewal of European conceptual and material art.
Parallel to his artistic practice, he developed an important teaching work inspired by the pedagogical methods of the Bauhaus, focused on educating visual perception and the experience of "seeing". This research culminated in the exhibition Sehen ("Seeing"), presented in several European and British cities, where he had a notable influence on art schools and new generations of artists.