After Thomas Lenk, born in 1933 in Berlin, occupied himself with the combination of
blocks and rod elements between 1960 and 1963 in his "Dialektischen Objekten"
(Dialectical Objects), works with the meaningful title "Schichtungen” (Stratifications)
appeared as of 1964. This group of works also gave him international recognition. In
1968, the director of the New York Guggenheim Museum at the time, Edward F. Fry,
saw Thomas Lenk as "the most independent and important German sculptor”.
(cited from: Nicolai B. Forstbauer, Das Wesen der Schichtung - Zum Tod von
Thomas Lenk, in: Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 18. 4. 2014)
Lenk’s works could be seen in 1968 at the 4th documenta in Kassel, as well as in
1970 in the German Pavilion at the Biennale in Venice. Here he exhibited together
with his artist colleagues Georg K. Pfahler, Heinz Mack and Günther Uecker, which
makes clear the intellectual link with the art of the ZERO movement co-founded by
Mack.
The works from Lenk’s group of "Schichtungen" are based on a flat, geometrical
basic form with rounded corners. Their reproductions are stratified behind one
another and are staggered with minimal displacement. Our "Schichtung 38b"
presents a triangle in combination with circular forms as a basic form. While Lenk’s
work initially appeared to still be influenced by American Minimal Art, with his
"Schichtungen" he developed a completely independent group of works, with which
he created the illusion of volume and space through the serial staggering of flat forms
and yet also remained true to the line figure on the whole. Through the simulation of
a body and with the help of a signal colour, Lenk evokes an aesthetic irritation that
also always calls for a closer consideration of and involvement with the object.
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Ab 1964 entstanden im Werk des 1933 in Berlin geborenen Thomas Lenk Werke mit dem
aussagekräftigen Titel "Schichtungen". Diese Werkgruppe machte ihn national wie auch
international bekannt. Lenks Schichtungen basieren auf einer flachen geometrischen
Grundform mit abgerundeten Ecken. Deren Vervielfältigungen sind hintereinander und mit
minimaler Verschiebung gestaffelt. Unsere "Schichtung 38b" zeigt als Grundform ein Dreieck
in Kombination mit Kreisformen.
Mit den Arbeiten dieser Werkgruppe schuf Lenk durch die serielle Staffelung flacher Formen
Volumen- und Raumillusion und bleib in der Gesamtheit doch auch der Linienfigur treu.
Durch die Vortäuschung eines Körpers und auch mit Hilfe von Signalfarbe ruft Lenk eine
ästhetische Irritation hervor, die immer auch eine genauere Betrachtung und
Auseinandersetzung mit dem Objekt einfordert.