PUBLIC ART 

8 LIMESTONES BY ULRICH RUCKRIEM

24/03/2024

NO THIS IS NOT AN EXPENSIVE HEAT PUMP [8 LIMESTONES BY ULRICH RUCKRIEM]

When I first saw this a few years ago it was suggested to me that it was not an art installation and that it was in fact part of an expensive ventilation system. As I liked these dark blocks I began to believe that it was a modern sculpture and then one day I saw a notice nearby indicating that it was “8 Limestones” by Ulrich Rückriem.

Background

Artist: Ulrich Rückriem (1938-2017), a German sculptor heavily influenced by minimalist art.

Creation: Likely in the late 1960s or 1970s during his most active period with stone sculptures.

Location: Currently on display at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) in Dublin, Ireland.

Description

Material: Limestone blocks, a common material in Rückreim's work.

Form: Eight roughly rectangular blocks (or stelae) arranged in a grid pattern. Each block has been carefully split, cut, and reassembled, leaving visible traces of the working process.

Scale: The stones are approximately human-sized, creating a direct relationship with the viewer's body.

Themes and Interpretations

Process as Art: Rückreim emphasises the actions of splitting, cutting, and reassembling as integral to the final piece. The marks left by the tools speak to the act of creation.

Materiality: Limestone's natural textures, imperfections, and its response to intervention become the artwork. This highlights the inherent beauty of the raw material.

Transformation and Tension: The original stone block has been altered, yet its recognisable form remains. There's a tension between the natural and the human-made, between order and fragmentation.

Minimalism: The work's simplicity in form and material connects it to the minimalist movement, which sought to strip art of unnecessary elements.

Relationship with the Viewer: The human-scale of the stones invites the viewer into a physical dialogue with the work. One must move around and explore the stones to fully appreciate their form and marks.

Significance

"8 Limestones" beautifully represents Ulrich Rückreim's artistic philosophy and his contributions to minimalist sculpture:

Focus on Process: He believed in making the artist's process transparent, showing the steps of creation as part of the finished sculpture.

Celebrating Material: For Rückreim, the natural qualities of stone hold immense value and deserve to be highlighted.

Engagement with Space: The sculpture occupies space in a deliberate way, creating a dialogue with its surroundings and with the viewer.

VIEW OUR PRIVACY POLICY