ZERO has never stopped.

ZERO goes on forever.

Otto Piene, 2014

OTTO
PIENE
Exhibiton 8 May 19 June 2015

CERAMIC

Goldbarren, 2014
Glaze and fire gold on clay,
15 x 7,9 x 1,2 in

Platinbarren, 2014
Glaze and platinum on clay,
15 x 7,9 x 1,2 in

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.

Kleiner Regenbogen, 2014

Glaze and fire gold / platinum on clay,
14,6 x 18,1 x 2,4 in

His raster pictures in gold and

platinum document his joy of
experimenting and his delight
in technic, which stayed with
him all his life.
5

5-Tage-Woche, 2012
glaze and fire gold on clay, 29,5 x 36,6 x 2,8 in

When I Behold, 2013

glaze, platinum and diverse minerals on clay, 29,5 x 36,6 x 2,8 in

Rastersonne, 2009
glaze and fire gold on clay, 18,9 in,
serial unique copy, brand signature, numbered Ex 34/99

The art, that I am representing,

is based on the idea of
transmission of energy.
Otto Piene

Rastermond, 2009
glaze and platinum on clay, 18,9 in,
serial unique copy, brand signature, numbered Ex 34/99

10

Rasterei, 2011
glaze and fire gold on clay, 29,9 x 29,9 x 1,8 in

Rasterarbeit, 2010
glaze and platinum on clay, 31,9 x 31,9 x 2 in

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Otto Piene who can be seen

here in the process of signing
certificates began working
with clay in 2006.
In his ceramics he maintains his
iconic puristic work stile he developed in his early raster pictures. For that he dropped glaze
on clay plates through different
grid screens. Not only the positioning of the drops, but their
more or less leveled features
and12their runny appearance
shape his works.

Serie Halbkreisel, 2009

glaze and platinum on clay, 10,6 x 10,6 x 0,8 in

Serie Halbkreisel, 2009

Ein bisschen Pollock, 2009
glaze and platinum on clay, 10,6 x 10,6 x 0,8 in

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14

Serie Strange Fish, 2009

glaze and platinum on clay, 10,6 x 10,6 x 0,8 in

O.P.-Ton, 2011
fired clay, unglazed, 20,9 x 24,8 x 4 in

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Otto Piene and Dresden China.

As part of the 300th anniversary
celebrations of the porcelain
manufacture Meissen the
artist developed a number
of unique pieces from the
famous porcelain.
From the start he loved working
with ceramics. Because of the
great heat things emerge, that
couldnt have been predicted.
That is beautiful.

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Mural relief Wirbel Dreifach, 2011

glaze, porcelain mass on unglazed porcelain, 29,5 x 52 x 0,8 in,
one of nine unique copies

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18

Pentagon Fnferweide, 2009

glaze and platinum on clay, 41,3 x 39,4 x 15,4 in

Minotaurus im Pentagon Sterntaler, 2006

glaze and fire gold on clay, 18,5 x 18,5 x 7,5 in

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20

Carved (3), 2010

fired clay with a glazure of different colors, 29,5 x 29,5 x 2,4 in

Spuren I, 2012
fired clay, unglazed, diptych, ca. 35,4 x 35,4 x 1,6 in

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22

Blot-American Indian, 2009-11

ceramic with a glazure of different colors, 38,2 x 38,2 x 2 in

Heart of Sorrow, 2009

ceramic with a glazure of different colors, 39,4 x 39,4 in

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24

Magma, 2006
oil / smoke on canvas, 31,5 x 59 in

Canvas

From fire and smoke evolved the

masterpieces of Otto Piene.
To create his smoke-pictures Piene
blackened the canvas and burned
the paint, until it all most turned
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to carbon.

Watercolor
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Wig and Gotee, 1977 / 78

watercolor on board, 59 x 39,4 in

Asparagus, 1979
watercolor on board, 59 x 39,4 in

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28

Cabbage, 1977 / 78
watercolor on board, 59 x 39,4 in

Bubble, 1978 / 79
watercolor on board, 59 x 39,4 in

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Yelllow, 1974
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watercolor on board, 39,4 x 31,5 in

Couldlike, 1974

watercolor on board, 39,4 x 31,5 in

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In 2001 Otto Piene has created

a series of gouache paintings,
where he explored the artistic
possibilities of fire.
As foundation for these exceptional paintings he used works
form an earlier series of silkscreen paintings on handmade
paper.
The traces of smoke and
the individual title form
unique piece.

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33

34

Blauer Taucher, 2001

watercolor / fire / soot / silkscreen on laid paper, 27,6 x 39,4 in

Tunnel, 2001
watercolor / fire / soot / silkscreen on laid paper, 27,6 x 39,4 in

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36

Grnes Licht, 2001

watercolor / fire / soot / silkscreen on laid paper, 27,6 x 39,4 in

Konzentrat, 2001
watercolor / fire / soot / silkscreen on laid paper, 27,6 x 39,4 in

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38

O.T., 1974
graphit on board, 31,5 x 39,4 in

Drawings

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.

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40

O.T., 1974
graphit on board, 59 x 39,4 in

O.T., 1974
graphit on board, 59 x 39,4 in

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42

O.T., 1975
graphit on board, 59 x 39,4 in

O.T., 1976
graphit on board, 39,4 x 31,5 in

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Otto Piene
Biography
1928
1948 - 1950
1950 - 1953
1951 - 1964
1953 - 1957
1957 - 1966
1957
1959
1960
1962 - 1969

1964
since 1964
1972
1994
since 1968

seit 1974
1989 - 1990
1996
2008
2014

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born on April 18 in Laasphe in the German region of Westphalia

Academy of Art, Munich
Academy of Art, Dsseldorf
Lecturer at the Fashion Institute in Dsseldorf
Studying philosophy at the University of Cologne
ZERO-exhibitions und ZERO-magazines, together with Heinz Mack and Gnther Uecker
First light ballet
First smoke pictures and fire paintings
First mechanized and programmable light sculptures
Environments in which people, light, fire and smoke, light and helium sculptures,
sound and text are integrated
Visiting professorship at the University of Pennsylvania
Stadttheater Bonn: Orders for art in architecture, and others
Summer Olympics in Munich, Piene created the sky work Olympic Rainbow
Domelight of the Schadow-arcades, Dsseldorf
Working with Sky Art projects with balloons an light emitters at the Center for Advanced
Visual Studies (C.A.V.S.) des Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.),
as director
Member of the founding board of the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne
Sculpture Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
Price of the Cultural Foundation of Visual Arts Dortmund
Piene lived and worked in Groton/Massachusetts, Boston and in Dsseldorf.
He died on July 17, 2014 in Berlin

Selected
public and private Collections
The Museum of Modern Art
New York City, NY, USA

The National Museum of Modern Art

Tokyo, Japan

National Galerie
Berlin, Germany

Metropolitan Museum of Art

New York City, NY, USA

Stedelijk Museum
Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Museum Ludwig
Cologne, Germany

Kunsthaus Zrich
Zurich, Switzerland

Guggenheim Museum
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Muse National dArt Moderne,

Centre George Pompidou,
Paris, France

Collection Lenz Schnberg

Salzburg, Austria

Albertina
Vienna, Austria
Muses Royaux des Beaux Arts
Brussels, Belgium

Collection Renate Bhmer-Haberland

Munich, Germany

Otto Pienes work is included in more than

200 museums and public collections.

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