Hubert Kiecol
Since the 1980s post minimalist artist Hubert Kiecol has been shrinking architectural structures such as stairwells, houses, columns, and windows in order to reduce them to to their most basic elements. He is committed to the commonplace, both in subject matter and in material–working in concrete, steel, glass, and wood instead of classical sculpture’s rarified marble or bronze. Taking cues from Modernist Constantin Brancusi and Minimalist Carl Andre, Kiecol eschews the redundancy of pedestals, stating, “The sculpture starts on the floor” and noting that his objects, “never wanted to be elevated and determine the space directly from the floor.”
Based on familiar constructions, his works are removed from Minimal art’s sober or sublime “specific objects.” Alternately, they evoke metaphorical meanings related to the intimacies and banalities of life. His small-scale houses and stairwell made of concrete–no more than 26cm high and 35cm tall–are placed directly on the floor, either apart from one another or arranged in small groups. Discharged of their usual tasks, they conjure overarching ideas such as security and protection for the house or movement for the stairs. Furthermore, since his house are exhibited in human scale houses, they question the relation between indoor and outdoor space.
Kiecol’s …
Since the 1980s post minimalist artist Hubert Kiecol has been shrinking architectural structures such as stairwells, houses, columns, and windows in order to reduce them to to their most basic elements. He is committed to the commonplace, both in subject matter and in material–working in concrete, steel, glass, and wood instead of classical sculpture’s rarified marble or bronze. Taking cues from Modernist Constantin Brancusi and Minimalist Carl Andre, Kiecol eschews the redundancy of pedestals, stating, “The sculpture starts on the floor” and noting that his objects, “never wanted to be elevated and determine the space directly from the floor.”
Based on familiar constructions, his works are removed from Minimal art’s sober or sublime “specific objects.” Alternately, they evoke metaphorical meanings related to the intimacies and banalities of life. His small-scale houses and stairwell made of concrete–no more than 26cm high and 35cm tall–are placed directly on the floor, either apart from one another or arranged in small groups. Discharged of their usual tasks, they conjure overarching ideas such as security and protection for the house or movement for the stairs. Furthermore, since his house are exhibited in human scale houses, they question the relation between indoor and outdoor space.
Kiecol’s work has been the subject of exhibitions at institutions such as Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Siegen, Museum Küppersmühle in Duisburg, and Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe. He has been awarded a Mies van der Rohe grant, a Annemarie and Will Grohmann grant, and a Wolfgang Hahn Prize for Contemporary Art of the Society for Modern Art at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne.
Bundeskunstsammlung, Bonn, Germany
FRAC, Amiens, France
Hamburger Bahnhof - Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany
Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Harvard University Art Museum, Cambridge, MA
Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, Germany
Galerie Christian Lethert, Cologne, Germany
Häusler Contemporary, Munich, Germany