OTTO PIENE: A RETROSPECTIVE

A comprehensive collection of Zero art by its founder member born in 1928, in Germany. In 1957, reacting against Neo-Expressionism, Otto Piene along with Heinz Mack begun the transformative Group Zero in Düsseldorf, later joined by Günther Uecker in 1961. This retrospective is a long-awaited event in the recent upturn of interest within the museums and private collectors for the Zero Movement, as Piene has not been exhibited in London since the sixties.

The Mayor Gallery is presenting a cross-section of Piene's work from the early sixties, with his signature Fire canvas and his Raster Paintings, including Gruppe Zero 1957/83, a large textured painterly representation of his allegiance to the group. Early works on paper as well as recent ceramics from his Gold Bars series will also be on display.

The highlight of this exhibition is the beautiful 1983 Light Ballet; an entrancing performance of light dancing in blackness, revisiting the menace of light during the Second World War during his adolescence in Lübbecke, Germany.

Piene is also known for being the father of Sky Events, inflatables blurring the line between Art and Architecture using the landscape as a canvas. For this retrospective, the artist has chosen the dramatic and impressive installation, Les Fleurs du Mal, made of six inflatable black flowers to take over the highest space of the gallery.