Heinz Mack

The Howard Wise Gallery, New York

New York, The Howard Wise Gallery, Group Zero: Mack, Piene, Uecker, 1964
New York, Moeller Fine Art, Howard Wise Gallery: Exploring the New, February - April 2013, illustrated in color, pp. 43-44
New York, Moeller Fine Art, ZERO in Vibration –Vibration in ZERO, October 2014 - January 2015, illustrated in color

Dieter Honisch, Mack: Sculptures 1953-1986, New York, 1987, cat. no. 608

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. There is evidence of wear and handling to the edges. There are scattered abrasions and accretions throughout. There is scattered evidence of oxidation to the base. There are scattered abrasions to the Plexiglas along the top edge.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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In 1957, Heinz Mack and Otto Piene founded the ZERO movement and were promptly joined by Günther Uecker in 1961. The name of the group helps to understand their key principles: ZERO is to be understood as ground zero, a Utopian field of ideas and energies in which new design principles and aesthetic ideas were to be developed. The post-war period was a fertile time for new approaches and the ZERO movement captured the zeitgeist in its ambition to transgress political and geographical divisions, on top of the art historical innovation of the work. 
ZERO came to represent the idea of pure possibility.

ZERO’s daring experiments and elements of performance in a panoply of locations—accompanied by spectacular actions and environments—helped foster a deep sense of community and collaboration among the artists involved. The group's ambition and drive led to relationships with many of the most important post-war artists at the time: Yves Klein, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, Enrico Castellani, Jean Tinguely and Jan Schoonhoven all had reciprocal creative relationships with the German artists’ group.  Their success and influence reached a crowning moment in 2014 with the opening of a survey exhibition, ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s–60s, at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. 

As the founder and leader of ZERO, Heinz Mack played a pivotal role in the success of the enterprise. The period in which Veil of Light was created was an especially critical moment for Mack, as he assimilated the influence and inspiration of his friendships with other artists to his own aesthetic concerns. It was during these years that he was at his most artistically groundbreaking, as he constantly experimented with different materials, light and movement. Along with the "Dynamic Structures" within his painting oeuvre he created numerous sculptural works, from oscillating light-reliefs and kinetically working rotors to monumental light-stelae and light reflecting cubes.

An important distinction for any European post-war group or movement was success in the United States. Several of the artists found a warm welcome to their ideas and embrace of innovation in this country, including Mack's great friend and ZERO co-founder Otto Piene, who lived in Massachusetts from 1972 until his death in 2011. A large portion of the responsibility for the group's success in the United States lies with the Howard Wise Gallery (established 1960, closed 1970). The gallery specialized in kinetic art and light sculpture, with spaces in both New York and Cleveland.  Wise closed the gallery to concentrate on Electronic Arts Intermix, an arts support group in the New York area, and donated the gallery records to the Archives of American Art in 1971. The embrace of technology, new media and innovation as the core driving principles of creation underpinned both the Howard Wise Gallery and the ZERO movement and made them a perfect match for the transmission of the group's message. This partnership cemented ZERO's status as a bona fide avant-garde collecting category and this piece is poignant evidence of their success, having remained in the personal collection of the late gallery owner until this day.