Klaus Staudt

Seriell betont, WR 12b, 1961

Along with the artists around the Zero group, Klaus Staudt, Max Bill and Richard Paul Lohse can be grouped with the systematic-constructive artists working in the post-war period. One characteristic feature of Constructive Art is researching optical-aesthetic phenomena using the methods of exact science. Staudt treats light not as a mere phenomenon, but as a concrete material that is an essential component for the effect of his work. A certain number of micro-elements (prisms, bars, rhombuses etc.) are arranged evenly and without hierarchy, usually on a square ground. This creates a structural field including a number of levels, as the micro-elements are sometimes arranged on, sometimes behind a support – frequently milky or transparent acrylic glass. The resultant spatial impression is made more profound by the fact that light and shade produce a rhythmic interplay on the structured surface. The material relief structure is only revealed in its full three-dimensional quality by the effect of the light.