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Heiner Thiel

German, born 1957

MIV/94, 7/9, 1994

graphite on steel

support: 15 1/8 x 15 1/8 inches (38.42 x 38.42 cm)

Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Gift of Natalie and Irving Forman, 2008

2008:52.17

More Details

Inscriptions

inscription / reverse / MIV/94, 7/9

signature / reverse / H. Thiel 94

Class

Drawings

Work Type

Drawing (visual work)

Information may change due to ongoing research.Glossary of Terms

Heiner Thiel explores the ways in which we perceive color and shapes, especially the square. He covers the surfaces of his metal sculptures in sumptuous light-absorbing or light-reflective materials, furthering the optical illusion already in play. However, the viewer encounters these works in the same way he or she would a painting. MIV/94, 7/9, which resembles a two-dimensional rendering of a cube, seems to float off the wall of the gallery. Each of Thiel’s works is mathematically calculated and fabricated to the exact proportions of a three-dimensional whole, forcing us to complete the rest of the drawing on our own.

Label from Drawing: The Beginning of Everything, July 8–October 15, 2017