Ulrich Wagner (sculptor)

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Portrait Ulrich Wagner

Ulrich Wagner (* 1959 in Cologne ) is a German visual artist , sculptor and graphic artist .

life and work

From 1981 to 1987 Ulrich Wagner studied fine art with Eduardo Paolozzi at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences, which later became the Cologne International School of Design , of which he was a master student. From 1984 to 1989 he supported Paolozzi u. a. in the realization of the Rheingarten fountain below the Ludwig Museum in Cologne and the disaster fountain on the occasion of the 1985 Federal Garden Show in Berlin. Ulrich Wagner lives and works in Oberlascheid ( Eifel ) and Cologne .

Handmade paper, colored with lightfast pigments and provided with embossed structures, serves Ulrich Wagner as a plastic material for most of his works. Stretched out on stretcher frames, this creates large, accessible rooms. In the 1980s, inspired by electronic circuit boards and machine parts, he created a specific image syntax from geometric shapes and individual ciphers. From the mid-1990s, his works were given a new dimension in terms of possible interpretations. In them, he links neutral grid lines with sections of the floor plans of real development and city plans and, through this link, calls to mind the special features and historical connections of selected locations. Nor does he stop at the concentration and extermination camps of the Nazi regime if there is a connection to them. In this way, aesthetic image structures become the bearer of critical, historically and politically relevant statements.

In his book projects Grundrisse von Concentration Camps from 1994/95 and Winkelbücher from 2011/12/14, he deliberately deals with the inhuman sites and practices of the National Socialists. Both the Leporellos with the floor plans of the camps in Dachau , Sachsenhausen , Mittelbau-Dora and Auschwitz II (Birkenau) and the differently colored " angles " with which he uses the identification of individual groups of prisoners in the concentration camps can be unfolded into large formats . Only with the connotation of the signs and the knowledge of the historical background does the horror of the systems become apparent.

In addition to paper, Wagner also uses other materials for his reliefs. With the exception of a few early copies, his emblematic works are made from compact, pigmented wooden bodies after 2000. Works made of illuminating acrylic glass will follow from 2015. Details from city maps of New York City or Mexico DF provide the formal basis for the Squares or Urban Systems series . The colored light, to which Wagner attaches great importance in his entire oeuvre, gains a lightness independent of the darkness in the transparent material of the acrylic glass works.

In the closed cabins of the light rooms , which evoke the local memory , colored neon contours allow the structure of symbols to shine in the dark. A reflective floor opens the room into the abyss. Complex picture patterns surround the visitor on all sides.

Ulrich Wagner: Blue Room , 1990
Ulrich Wagner: Messe Deutz (series local memory), 2010
Ulrich Wagner: Roter Winkel , Winkelbuchprojekt, 2011
Ulrich Wagner: U.17 (Urban Systems, NY), 2016

Awards and honors

Working in public collections

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions (selection)

  • 2016: Urban Systems, klein gallery, Königstein im Taunus
  • 2016: SchwarzLicht, Klingspor Museum , Offenbach
  • 2013: Transfer, room work, Kunstverein Germersheim, Germersheim
  • 2013: Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern
  • 2011: Local Memory - Memory of Places, LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn
  • 2009: imprints gallery, Piégros La Clastre, France
  • 2008: Bridge building, Mannheimer Kunstverein eV , Mannheim
  • 2008: Forum, Kunstverein Speyer eV
  • 2008: Raum Licht Papier, Emsdettener Kunstverein eV, Emsdetten
  • 2008: Lichtraum, Leo Breuer Prize, LVR LandesMuseum Bonn
  • 2008: Society for Art and Design , Bonn
  • 2008: Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern
  • 2004: Galerie Stracke, Cologne
  • 2005: Forum, Raumarbeit, Art Frankfurt , Frankfurt am Main
  • 2003: A book on Auschwitz 2, City Library / Klingspor Museum, Offenbach
  • 2003: Rotblau, Museum Pfalzgalerie Kaiserslautern

Participation in exhibitions (selection)

  • 2017: Objekt + graphics, Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern
  • 2016: SchwarzLicht, Luminale, Städtische Sparkasse, Offenbach
  • 2014: On the Point, Room 2810, Bonn
  • 2013: 30 years of gkg, Society for Art and Design , Bonn
  • 2012: New Worlds, Kunsthallen Offenbach, Offenbach
  • 2012: Book Art Total / Collection Total, Museum Angewandte Kunst , Frankfurt a. M.
  • 2011: XXXIX Festival Internacional Cervantino, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
    Ulrich Wagner: SchwarzLicht , 2016
  • 2011: KNÜLLER FALTER REISSER - 25 years of the “Art from Paper” collection, City Gallery Villa Zanders , Bergisch Gladbach
  • 2011: Fantasmas y otras pesadillas, La Cámara, Mexico
  • 2010: Galerie Wack, Kaiserslautern
  • 2010: Black and White, imprints gallery, Piégros La Clastre, France

literature

  • Ulrich Wagner. Paravent, Town Hall Pulheim, Pulheim 1985 (Text: Brigitte Hammer)
  • Ulrich Wagner, Aachen 1987 ISBN 978-3-922760-22-1
  • Ulrich Wagner. Sign, Günther Peill Foundation, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren 1991 (Text: Dorothea Eimert ), ISBN 978-3-925955-18-1
  • Ulrich Wagner. Reversal, Chapelle St. Fiacre Guidel 1993, (Text: Christine Hartmann)
  • Ulrich Wagner. Networked systems, Städtische Galerie Villa Zanders, Bergisch Gladbach 1995 (texts: Eugen Gomringer , Stefan Soltek , Wolfgang Vomm)
  • Ulrich Wagner. Leporello labyrinth, Musée des Tapisseries, Ville d 'Aix-en-Provence 1997 (Texts: Joachim Rothacker, Christine Hartmann, Gérard Bensussan)
  • Ulrich Wagner. Sector 3, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato / Mexico 1998 (texts: Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, Susanne Padberg), ISBN 968-864-091-3
  • Ulrich Wagner. ROTBLAU, Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern 2003 (Text: Annette Reich)
  • Ulrich Wagner. Bild Raum Landschaft 98-08, ed. Martin Stather and Franz Dudenhöffer, Mannheim Speyer 2008 (texts: Martin Stather , Franz Dudenhöffer, Joachim Geil ), ISBN 978-3-88423-301-6

Movies

  • Ulrich Wagner, Ortsgedächtnis Gedächtnis der Orte, a film by Dieter Heyen, 2012
  • Ulrich Wagner, Überertritt, 20th Cultural Summer in Germersheim, film by Thomas Bug, 2013

Remarks

  1. ↑ See this: SD Sauerbier: From characters to characters. In: Ulrich Wagner. Character. Exhibition catalog Günther Peill Foundation, Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren 1991, no p.
  2. ↑ artist books ; Works for the cities of Mannheim, Cologne-Deutz, Offenbach, Germersheim or the Rhineland
  3. ↑ Book project Outlines of Concentration Camps : Leporello, handmade paper with poured-in outline of the concentration camps in Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Mittelbau-Dora and Auschwitz II (Birkenau) made of pigmented paper pulp, page size 21 × 21 cm / 23 × 23 cm / 31 × 31 cm, Leporello size 21 × 950 cm / 23 × 1300 cm / 31 × 1200 cm / 31 × 2600 cm, total size (laid out as a surface) 124 × 197 cm / 187 × 187 cm / 187 × 250 cm / 250 × 405 cm Edition of 10 copies
  4. ↑ Winkelbuchprojekt : Weißer Winkel, Schwarzer Winkel, Roter Winkel, Gelber Winkel, Grüner Winkel, Blauer Winkel, Lila Winkel, Brauner Winkel, Rosa Winkel, 2011/12/14, handmade paper with infused ground plans made of pigmented paper pulp, each 48 × 48 cm , Overall size (laid out as a surface) 190 × 190 cm, 36 pages, slipcase made of cardboard, each book is unique
  5. ↑ Joachim Geil: "In the beautiful the horror"
  6. ↑ Squares , each in several parts, 2009, wood, pigment
  7. ↑ Urbane Systeme NY , each in several parts, 2016/17, illuminating acrylic glass; Urban systems Mex DF, six parts, 2017, illuminating acrylic glass, 127 × 4 × 3 cm
  8. ↑ The installation Location Memory - Memory of Places from 2011 is owned by the LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn.
  9. ↑ Scholarship from the Günther Peill Foundation

Web links

Commons : Ulrich Wagner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wagner, Ulrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German visual artist, sculptor and graphic artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne