Sculpture Park Schwante

FOCUS 2023: GEORGE RICKEY

It is a particular pleasure to present the work of George Rickey at the Schlossgut Schwante Sculpture Park this year. Eight large-scale sculptures made of stainless steel are set in motion by wind and gravity and interact with the natural elements of the surrounding landscape. On the ten-hectare large area, visitors can view the sculptures from different perspectives and observe their changes in the course of the day and the seasons. Surrounding the exhibition are 21 works from the permanent collection, including those by Lynn Chadwick, Jeewi Lee, Dan Graham, Carsten Nicolai, Susan Philipsz, Ulrich Rückriem and Anne Seubert.

“What awaits the artist as a motif are not the trees, not the flowers, not the landscape, but the swaying of the branches and the trembling of the trunks, the rising or receding of the clouds, the rising and setting, the growing and passing of the heavenly bodies.”

-George Rickey

George Rickey is considered one of the pioneers of kinetic art. He studied art history and painting at Oxford University and was influenced by constructivists such as Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner. After the Second World War, he began to create abstract sculptures in metal that moved through natural forces. His works are characterised by a geometric simplicity and a technical precision that contrast strongly with the random and playful movement of his forms. The work of the US American is represented in a number of internationally renowned museums and collections, including MoMA New York, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, National Gallery of Art as well as the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C.