Untitled

Untitled, 1987

Ulrich Rückriem

Sculpture garden, The Art Institute of Chicago

111 South Michigan Avenue

            German sculptor Ulrich Rückriem was born in Düsseldorf in 1938 and apprenticed as a stonemason from 1957-1959. Although his early works were open constructions in wood and steel, he began using stone as his primary material in the mid-1960s. Interested in revealing the process, he developed a method of separating and reassembling basic forms. Untitled is a granite slab punctured with holes and cut lines that reveal segmentation even as the piece seems like a naturally-occurring formation. It is placed against a gray stone wall in the sculpture garden and is somewhat camouflaged by its environment. Rückriem has been featured in many important international art shows, including Documenta exhibitions 5, 7, 8 and 9. Held in Kassel, Germany every five years, Documenta was established in 1955 as a way for Germany to emerge from its repressive cultural past under Nazism and exhibit innovative and challenging works of art to the public.