Wolfram Ullrich cuts and folds steel like others do paper. The result is large-format, seemingly floating reliefs whose spatial effect far exceeds their actual dimensions.
Since the beginning of his career, the Stuttgart-based artist (*1961) has been driven by the question of how a flat surface can become a spatial object. In his early works, a cut alone is the first exploration of three-dimensionality. Later, by joining parts together, rows are created that convey a sense of depth. Folding pushes surfaces into the space. Ullrich uses a wide variety of formats and materials. In this solo exhibition, small, delicate works on paper enter into a dialog with massive rusted steel segments. Spatially expansive, geometric forms made of wood fiberboard contrast with the shiny surfaces of brightly colored steel polyhedrons.
But Ullrich's exploration of three-dimensionality does not end with a free-standing sculpture. In some of his exhibited works, he creates forms of representation in which spaces open up that exist only in the eye of the beholder. Here, perception and physicality contradict each other, and his flat wall objects are transformed into floating (imaginary) spaces. Trapezoidal surfaces seem to work their way into the wall, rectangles tilt towards us, ellipses of colored surface and brushed steel edges glide weightlessly along.
The fact that nothing is as it seems and that our impression of size and proportion can be very different depending on our point of view can also be impressively experienced in the exhibition. Depending on the angle of view, the same shape sometimes appears as a square and sometimes as a narrow rectangle. Ullrich's art is one that only unfolds its full effect in situ. The large, bright rooms of the kunsthalle weishaupt offer the ideal architecture for this. Their calm and clarity make them an effective space for experiencing Ullrich's colorful, geometric bodies full of dynamism.
Developed in collaboration with Wolfram Ullrich, the exhibition uses works from the Siegfried and Jutta Weishaupt Collection as well as loans to shed light on the artist's oeuvre, which spans four decades.
March 10 to September 29, 2024
