Zonder titel

This life-size sculpture, a rectangular block of gray Dolomite granite, was sawn systematically into five parts by Ulrich Rückriem. First, he halved the block horizontally. Then cut the upper half vertically down the center, followed by cutting one of these halves into two horizontal sections. ‘It’s about the effect created by the division. A large vertical stone volume split into horizontal sections appears far heavier than an undivided mass.’ Ulrich Rückriem is not attempting to change the stone into something else, something representational – he is concerned with drawing attention to the essential values of a sculpture: volume, size, site and space. The material and the tools (in this case an electric saw, hammer, chisel and wedge) dictate the manner in which Ulrich Rückriem goes about making the piece. The way the stone is processed defines the ultimate look and feel of the sculpture and its relationship to the space around it.