BILL BOLLINGER - Metropol Kunstraum
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BILL BOLLINGER Metropol Kunstraum
8 Horizonte und eine Rotationsachse 8 horizons and one axis of rotation Bill Bollinger ist wieder einer der vergessenen, spät Bill Bollinger is again one of the forgotten, late discove- entdeckten Künstler der 60er/70er Jahre, die in dieser red artists of the 60s/70s, who worked in this intensive intensiven kreativen Epoche in New York gearbeitet creative epoch in New York. He was part of a move- haben und Teil einer Bewegung waren, die alles Kon- ment that wanted everything conventional to be left ventionelle aufbrechen wollte. Dagegen scheint die behind. In contrast, the selection of works in this colle- Auswahl der Arbeiten in dieser Sammlung fast klas- ction seems almost classical, as they take the horizon sisch, thematisieren sie doch die Horizontlinie auf See. line at sea as their theme. Bill Bollinger nutzt einfachste Mittel wie Sprühfarbe, Bill Bollinger uses the simplest means such as spray Papiercollage oder Kreidestriche, um neben der Ho- paint, paper collage or chalk lines to create a scenic rizontlinie eine landschaftliche Stimmung zu erzeugen atmosphere around the horizon line – we do not see – wir sehen keine Striche oder Risse, sondern Son- lines or cracks, but sunsets, sunrises, reflections of nenuntergänge,- aufgänge, Wolkenspiegelung oder clouds or also condensation trails. auch Kondensstreifen. Much in this collection revolves around space and its Vieles dreht sich in dieser Sammlung um den Raum perception. The horizon at sea gives a framework for und dessen Wahrnehmung. Der Horizont auf See gibt infinity. Within this framework sensation takes place – der Unendlichkeit einen Rahmen. In diesem Rahmen very romantically also that of the weather. The horizon- findet Empfindung statt – ganz romantisch auch die tal division of the field of vision helps the person who des Wetters. Die horizontale Teilung des Sichtfelds has shrunk to a small particle to put the own standing hilft dem zum kleinen Teilchen geschrumpften Se- point with the horizon in line and thus creating a kind of henden, den eigenen Standpunkt mit dem Horizont ins security. A security that has long determined the world Lot zu bringen und schafft so eine Art von Sicherheit. view. Only late did the intellectual power of the abstract Eine Sicherheit, die lange das Weltbild bestimmen and logical thinking cause this world view to collapse. sollte. Erst spät hat die geistige Kraft des abstrakten Which leads to the second main focus of the collection und logischen Denkens dieses Weltbild einstürzen – the conceptual. That the last work in the exhibition – lassen. Was auf den zweiten Schwerpunkt der Samm- the rotation axis – is a further element of the modern lung, das Konzeptuelle, hindeutet. Dass die Arbeit um world view, may be coincidence. die Rotationsachse ein weiteres Element des moder- nen Weltbilds thematisiert, mag Zufall sein. October 2020 MM
Notes from crossing the Atlantic, 1968 provincial home. Horror #2. The board of anemic ta-
ste could hardly be expected to approve this plan, so
First day out. Sunny, sea perfectly calm. I sat up on Johnson sent Bobby Baker over to talk to them. Result:
top of the pilothouse reading. Occasionally the horn plan approved. Horror #3. The contractor I mentioned
would blow directly behind me for no apparent reason got the job of building this monstrosity, which he did to
– nothing visible on the horizon (n)or has been all day. everyone`s satisfaction. Shortly afterwards the scan-
Saw porpoises or something – large dark forms lying dal about Baker – which you may recall – began to
on the surface or playing, blowing spray out their no- erupt. Fearing the contractor might be called to testify
ses. Also found myself accompanied by a little dark somewhere and that his testimony might be damaging,
bird – about robin size and shape – stood on the railing the Johnson organization sought to discredit the man
and sometimes fluffed himself out and gave a scratchy before any such thing came to pass. Every federal
little song. Must live on the ship, much too far from land organization which has any power to harass a man –
for so little a bird. Half a dozen gulls also (illegible). internal revenue, FBI, etc. etc. hosed him and turned
Fly tirelessly along with the ship, hour upon hour. Ship his life into a fairly continual hell. He was discredited so
plods along very slowly it seems, but so persistently, effectively he committed suicide. End of horror story.
which is impressive
One of the passengers, the younger, told me a story Second day just like the first very warm and placid,
peculiar for the number of horrors it contains. He knew dull, actually I took a few pictures of the sea. I wonder
a guy who was a building contractor from Washing- if anyone ever took pictures of the sea before. Not of
ton. When Johnson came to Washington as V.P., he big waves, ships on the horizon, spectacular clouds or
bought a house in a very exclusive section which had sunsets, but just of the plain old quiet, dull, overpowe-
been developed by some big corporation – a group of ring sea.
„beautiful” „colonial” and „French Provincial” houses, It was hazy this morning, the sky was a uniform gray
with everthing appropriate to suburban exclusiveness. blue to the east, the sea directly below the sun was
To preserve the esthetic purity of the neighborhood, lighter and brighter than the sky, off to either side it
the corporation retained control of all modifications that became darker. The horizon line an absolutely hard,
could be made to the outside of the houses and the sharp line. The sea + the sky on a hazy morning.
grounds. Any proposed changes had to be passed by Joyce says: „The poet is the intense center of the life
a board of judges. Horror #1. When Johnson moved in, of his age to which he stands in a relation than which
he decided he wanted to build a good old Texas style none can be more vital.”
pool – cabana – barbecue pit in the front of his French Here I stand at the „intense center“ of a circle of the
sea and the sky. The sense of being at the center of a circle and a hemisphere is very powerful. I think how much stronger it would be if you were all alone on the sea, in a little boat, or even in the water. The sense of everything conveying on you or of you being the source of everything. The people on the ship are so completely incidental. Even the ship, a clumsy iron box crawling across the water, is quite incidental. The actu- alities are the sea + the sky. Bill Bollinger: „Notes from crossing the atlantic”, 1968, in: Christiane Meyer-Stoll (Hrsg.): Bill Bollinger. The Retrospective, Ausst.Kat. Kunstmuseum Liechten- stein, Vaduz, ZKM I Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, S. 57.
Wasser ist Leben und wie die Kunst
findet es sein eigenes Gleichgewicht.
Water is life and like art it finds its own level.
Bill Bollinger 1970Über Bill Bollingers Horizonte on Bill Bollinger’s Horizons Bill Bollinger gehört in den späten 1960er-Jahren zu In the late 1960s Bill Bollinger belongs to the pionee- den wegbereitenden Bildhauern seiner Zeit. 1968 ring sculptors of his time. In 1968 he crossed for the überquert er für seine erste europäische Ausstellung first time with a cargo ship the Atlantic Ocean to get in der Galerie Rolf Ricke, Köln, mit einem Frachtschiff to his first European exhibition in Rolf Ricke Gallery, den Atlantik. An Deck beobachtet der studierte Raum- Cologne. On deck the space engineer observes de- fahrtingenieur zutiefst beeindruckt die unendliche eply impressed the infinite width of the earth, in his Weite der Erde, in seinem Skizzenbuch notiert er die sketchbook he notes the above reprinted records of an obig wiederabgedruckten Aufzeichnungen einer Atlan- Atlantic crossing. He describes, how he takes photo- tiküberquerung. Er beschreibt, wie er den Horizont fo- graphs of the horizon – unspectacular, without sunrise tografiert – unspektakulär, ohne Sonnenaufgang oder or sunset. Sonnenuntergang. Eine dieser Fotografien wird im One of these photographs will be taken in January Januar 1969 das Motiv der Einladungskarte für seine 1969 as the motif of the invitation card for his solo Einzelausstellung in der Bykert Gallery, New York. Un- exhibition in the Bykert Gallery, New York. Unusual gewöhnlich an dieser Aufnahme ist, dass der Blick auf about this recording is that the view of the water sur- die Wasserfläche des Meeres zwei Drittel einnimmt, face occupies two-thirds of the world, the horizon, on der Horizont, an dem das Wasser und der Himmel sich which the water and the sky meet, lies far at the top treffen, liegt weit oben und bildet eine dunkle bestim- and forms a dark defining borderline. mende Grenzlinie. Das Motiv des Horizonts, des Was- The motif of the horizon, the water, which finds its own sers, welches seine eigene Balance findet, das Thema balance, the theme of surface and curved space as von Fläche und gekrümmten Raum als auch der Gren- well as the border runs through Bollinger’s complete ze zieht sich durch Bollingers gesamtes Werk. Seine work. His means are radical minimalist, both in his Mittel sind dabei radikal minimalistisch, sowohl in sei- sculptural as well as his paintings and drawings: nen bildhauerischen als auch seinen malerisch-zeich- „I only do what is necessary,” he says. Often the hori- nerischen Werken: «Ich mache nur, was notwendig zon is a symbol in cultural history of infinity, but also of ist», äussert er. Immer wieder ist der Horizont in der longings. In the Genesis, the sky and the water will be Kulturgeschichte Sinnbild der Unendlichkeit, aber auch transformed on the Second Day separated from each der Sehnsüchte. In der Genesis wird der Himmel und other, from the unity of the primeval flood space. Dua- das Wasser am zweiten Tag voneinander geschieden, lity is formed – a primal experience. aus der Einheit der Ur-Flut formt sich Raum und Duali- Christiane Meyer-Stoll tät – ein Ur-Erlebnis. (translated by deepL)
Untitled, Collage auf Millimeterpapier, 43,18 x 55,88 cm, Mitte 1960er Jahre
Untitled, Sprühfarbe auf Millimeterpapier, 43,18 x 55,88 cm, Mitte 1960er Jahre
Untitled, Sprühfarbe auf Millimeterpapier, 43,18 x 55,88 cm, Mitte 1960er Jahre
Untitled, Sprühfarbe auf Bristol Karton, 55,88 x 71,12 cm, ca. 1970
Untitled, Bleistift und Ölkreide auf Papier, 50,2 x 70,2 cm, 1968
Untitled, Ölkreide auf Papier, 50,2 x 70,2 cm, 1968
Untitled, Bleistift und Ölkreide auf Papier, 50 x 70 cm, 1968
Untitled, Ölkreide auf Papier, 50 x 70 cm, 1968
Untitled, Tempera auf handgeschöpftem Papier, 55,88 x 76,02, ca. 1970
BILL BOLLINGER
1939 geboren in Brooklyn, New York
1988 gestorben in Pine Plains, New York
Ausbildung
1957 – 1961 Aeronautical enginieering, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
1961 Art Student League, New York
Einzel- und Gruppenausstellungen (Auswahl)
2017 A Line Between the Morning Sun and the Evening Sun, Häusler Contemporary, Zürich
2014 Concete Deviation. Bill Bollinger, Mary Ellen Caroll, Galerie Stadtpark, Krems
2012 Valentin Ruhry / Bill Bollinger. Falsche Universalismen, Christine König Galerie, Wien
2011 Bill Bollinger. Die Retrospektive, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz, ZKM I Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe
2008 Heavy Metal. Die unerklärliche Leichtigkeit eines Materials, Kunsthalle zu Kiel
1999 White Fire, Flying Man: Amerikanisch Kunst 1959-1999 in Basel. Werke aus der Öffentlichen Kunstsammlung Basel
und der Emanuel Hoffmann-Stiftung, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel
1995 Wide White Space. 1966-1976: Hinter dem Museum/ Behind the Museum, Palais des Beaux Arts de Bruxelles, Brüssel,
Kunstmuseum Marseille, MAC galeries contemporaines des Musées de Marseilles
1975 Painting, Drawing and Sculpture of the `60s and the ´70s from the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, Institute of
Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinatti
1974 Multiples. Ein Versuch der Entwicklung des Auflagenobjektes darzustellen, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin
1973 In Spaces, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville
Whitney Biennial 1973, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1971 Earth, Air, Fire, Water: Elements of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Twenty-six by twenty-six, Vassar College Art Gallery, New York
1970 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Hanging / Leaning, Emily Lowe Gallery, Hempstead
Information, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Sammlung Etzold, Kölnischer Kunstverein, KölnString and Rope, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York
Using Walls (Indoors), Jewish Museum, New York
Zeichnungen amerikanischer Künstler, Galerie Ricke, Köln
1969 Anti-Illusion: Procedures/ Materials, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Art in Process IV, Finch College Museum of Art, New York
Between Objects and Environment: Sculpture in an Extended Format, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia
Letters, Long Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, New Jersey
Live in Your Head. When Attitude Becomes Form, Kunsthalle Bern
New Materials. Procedures in sculpture, Austin Arts Center, Austin
Op Losse Schroeven, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Other Ideas, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
Verborgene Strukturen. Ein Beitrag zur Untersuchung neuer Wahrnehmungsformate, Museum Folkwang, Essen
9. Anselmo, Bollinger, Hesse, Kaltenbach, Naumann, Saret, Serra, Sonnier, Zorio, Castelli Warehouse, New York
6 Künstler (Artschwager, Bollinger, Buthe, Kuehn, Serra, Sonnier), Galerie Rolf Ricke, Köln
1968 Minimal Art USA. Carl Andre, Bill Bollinger, Robert Breer, Donald Judd, Gary Kuehn, Gerald Laing, Robert Morris, Fred Sandback,
Galerie René Block, Berlin
Galerie Rolf Ricke, Köln
1967 Decade 7. Contemporary American Art, Fine Arts Division, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
1966 Sound, Light, Silence: Art That Performs, Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, Bianchini Gallery, New York
Herausgeber Dr. Markus Michalke
Gestaltung Franziska von L’Estocq, REDAKTON Anne Vollenbröker, Photographie © Maximilian RossnerYou can also read
