Ulrich Ruckriem
Dusseldorf, Germany
“I stop where others begin.”- Ulrich Ruckriem
Ulrich Ruckriem (b. 1938) began his career during the restoration of the cathedral in Cologne, Germany where he recreated old gothic sculptures, and learned how to work with stone by examining the possibilites of his materials. Though he was proud of his reproductions, Ruckriem was always more interested in the raw stone material that came from the quarry. He wanted to reveal the power and beauty of the raw material by focusing on the fundamental issues every sculptor addresses when beginning a work – namely volume, size, location, and space. Among the first to leave his material almost untouched, Ruckriem believes that sculpture must be simple and that a piece of stone, after it has been worked, should suggest no other material. He leaves the marks created by extracting the rock from the quarry on his sculptures. Unlike American Minimal sculptures where individual parts are interchangeable, Ruckriem’s sculptures have fixed positions and are arranged in relation to one another. It is essential that the separated pieces be reconstructed to form the original block. By splitting the large pieces of stone, Ruckriem not only lightens the material’s appearance but also suggests that the sculptures have an interior. One of Germany’s leadind sculptors, Ruckriem, wh o treats each quarry as his studio, has been making stone sculptures by means of splitting and cutting since 1968. Ruckriem now lives in London and works in three European quarries.
“I stop where others begin.”- Ulrich Ruckriem
Ulrich Ruckriem (b. 1938) began his career during the restoration of the cathedral in Cologne, Germany where he recreated old gothic sculptures, and learned how to work with stone by examining the possibilites of his materials. Though he was proud of his reproductions, Ruckriem was always more interested in the raw stone material that came from the quarry. He wanted to reveal the power and beauty of the raw material by focusing on the fundamental issues every sculptor addresses when beginning a work – namely volume, size, location, and space. Among the first to leave his material almost untouched, Ruckriem believes that sculpture must be simple and that a piece of stone, after it has been worked, should suggest no other material. He leaves the marks created by extracting the rock from the quarry on his sculptures. Unlike American Minimal sculptures where individual parts are interchangeable, Ruckriem’s sculptures have fixed positions and are arranged in relation to one another. It is essential that the separated pieces be reconstructed to form the original block. By splitting the large pieces of stone, Ruckriem not only lightens the material’s appearance but also suggests that the sculptures have an interior. One of Germany’s leadind sculptors, Ruckriem, wh o treats each quarry as his studio, has been making stone sculptures by means of splitting and cutting since 1968. Ruckriem now lives in London and works in three European quarries.
(German, 1938 – )
View objects by this artist.