A constructivist's passion

Derek Liddington's constructivist compositions from his solo exhibition Modern Love at Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto 2013:

Posenenske's constructivist space

I'm heading to Hamburg today.  As I'm waving goodbye to Berlin temporarily (I'll come back for a few more days in a couple weeks), there's one other show I saw here that I can't wait to write about.  I first saw Charlotte Posenenske's works six years ago at Documenta 12 in Kassel, and I've been following her ever since.  Her own manifesto from 1968 best summarizes her philosophy:

"The things I make are variable, as simple as possible, reproducible.  They are components of a space, since they are like building elements, they can always be rearranged into new combinations or positions, thus, they alter the space.  I leave this alteration to the consumer who thereby again and anew participates in the creation.  The simplicity of basic geometric forms is beautiful and suited
to the demonstration of the principles of rationalized modifications."

Posenenske at Galerie Mehdi Chouakri, Berlin 2013:

Two German constructivists

Walter Dexel at Neue Galerie, Kassel 2012:

Carl Buchheister at Berlinische Galerie, Berlin 2012:

Thick Steam Above The Wing Of A Sparrow

Currently showing at Saatchi Gallery is the fascinating group exhibition Gaiety Is The Most Outstanding Feature Of The Soviet Union: New Art From Russia.  Anna Parkina's sculpture Thick Steam Above The Wing Of A Sparrow and her collages remind me of Russian constructivist and Soviet propaganda art.

Parkin at Saatchi, London 2012:

Glöckner geometry

An important yet underrated figure in German constructivism, Hermann Glöckner at Daimler Contemporary, Berlin 2012:

KSV Krüger Schuberth Vandreike's 2011 Humboldt Box at Schloßplatz Berlin not too far away looks like Glöckner's geometry in 3D:

Buchholz's Constant-Variables

As a contemporary of El Lissitzky and László Moholy-Nagy, Erich Buchholz was a forerunner of German constructivism and suprematism.  His sequence of screen-prints, Constant-Variables, from 1964 explores the permeability of art in time and space.  Each piece of the sequence uses only red, white and black with fixed lines and a permutation of shifting rectangular shapes. 

Buchholz at Daimler Contemporary, Berlin 2012:

Axiometric

A constructivist painting by Latvian artist Gustav Klucis from around 1920:

Thanks, R, for the image.

Constructivist Lissitzky

Another great Russian constuctivist artist featured in Royal Academy of Arts' exhibition Building The Revolution: Soviet Art And Architecture 1915-1935 in London is El Lissitzky, another favourite of mine.  His graphic and architectural works from the 1920s:

Images from Design: El Lissitzky, John Milner 2009

Constructivist Rodchenko

My recent visit to Royal Academy of Arts' exhibition Building The Revolution: Soviet Art And Architecture 1915-1935 in London has brought me again to my favourite Russian constuctivist artist Alexander Rodchenko.  His drawings and photomontaged images, from the 1910s and early 1920s, were way ahead of his time.

Images from Design: Alexander Rodchenko, John Milner 2009

Building the Revolution in London

I found myself more and more in love with the Russian avant-garde with my visit today to Royal Academy of Arts' current show Building The Revolution: Soviet Art And Architecture 1915-1935.  It's a pity that no photography was allowed at the exhibition.  The Russian art and architecture on view, mostly from the 1920s, of course include much more than the model and drawings of Vladimir Tatlin's (never built 1920 designed) constructivist classic Monument to the Third International:

Richard Pare's picture of Vladimir Shukhov's 1922 Shabolovka Radio Tower:

Bauhaus + constructivism @ Neue Nationalgalerie

Para-Bauhaus El Lissitzky at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin 2011:

Bauhaus Meister László Moholy-Nagy at Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin 2011:

Laliberté's floating lines and planes

I saw Colette Laliberté's eye-catching constructivist paintings of floating lines and planes at Toronto's Wynick/Tuck Gallery last week.  Her previous site specific installations, which I didn't get a chance to see, would have been even more brilliant.

Laliberté at Wynick/Tuck, Toronto 2011:

Shapiro's colours and space

I had to change trains at Koeln when I travelled from Basel to Duesseldorf yesterday.  So I decided to stop at Koeln for a few hours to visit Museum Ludwig right by the hauptbahnhof.  As a big fan of Russian constructivism, I fell instantly in love with Joel Shapiro's installation of colourful geometric shapes floating in space.  The interaction of colours with space changes constantly as the viewer moves across the room.  It was a really fulfilling experience.

Video from iksmedienarchiv's youtube channel