WURZBURG.- On the occasion of the 80th birthday of Heinz Mack, the Kulturspeicher museum in Wurzburg is showing approximately 80 graphic works by the artist from all of his creative periods. The range of the exhibits, which include large-format works, ranges from pen and ink drawings through to frottages and colored pastel crayon drawings. Most works are in the artist's own possession and are presented to the public for the first time.

As a co-founder of the artist group ZERO, which he initiated jointly with Otto Piene in 1958 and was later joined by Gunther Uecker, Heinz Mack gained worldwide acclaim. Jointly with Otto Piene and Gunther Uecker he created the ZERO light room (Hommage a Fontana) for documenta III in Kassel in 1964. This installation was later acquired by Museum Kunstpalast and was shown as part of the reopening and new presentation of the museum's collection in an exhibition that began in May in parallel to the exhibition Mack: The language of my hand held there earlier this year.

A wealth of Heinz Mack's works, including paintings, light reliefs, kinetic light objects and sculptures, was presented on occasion of the internationally oriented and well-received ZERO retrospective shown at Museum Kunstpalast in 2006. Currently, a number of museums and numerous galleries are dedicating solo exhibitions with varying emphases to the jubilarian.

In Mack's oeuvre, his graphic work plays an equal role alongside painting and sculptural work. Mack develops his ideas simultaneously through different artistic techniques, such as graphic art, sculpture and painting: "The paintings from the ZERO period until 1963 vividly demonstrate what the painter of the 'dynamic structures' owes to preparatory graphic work, how his work is founded on his reflections on perception which also characterise his graphic studies on which his ink drawings, to name a fine example, are based." (Beat Wismer, General Director Museum Kunstpalast)

The parameters of light, movement and structure determine the artistic oeuvre of Heinz Mack to this day and are also evident in his graphic work. Even in his early reed pen, ink or graphite hand drawings, simple strokes and lines on white paper condense into rhythmic structures and graphic energy fields. Eventually he turned to frottage by coincidence. Henceforth, Heinz Mack used imprints of metal reliefs, grates and grids on sheets, in order to create optical vibrations on paper using the frottage technique.

Alongside his coloured pastel works it is predominantly the combination of ink and brush which enables the artist to work with much freedom and generosity even in large-format works. The dynamically structured ink drawings require high standards in terms of technique, concentration and coordination, but their uniqueness is determined by spontaneity facilitated by coincidence. "I completely count on coincidence, also in drawings." )Heinz Mack

Throughout his 60-year artistic career, Mack´s oeuvre, including his graphic work, testifies to his eagerness to experiment and curiosity of the interplay of light and shadow, of the energetic spaces between work of art and spectator.