Heinz Mack

Private Collection, Netherlands

Borzo Kunsthandel BV (by 2010)

De Primi Fine Art, Lugano

Amsterdam Mayor Gallery, London (acquired from the above in 2013)

Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2014

• A highly refined example of the artist's Lichtstruktur series from the late 1960s.
• A dynamic relief that uses texture and reflection to activate light and the viewer's environment.
• Created at the peak of the ZERO Group’s international influence, embodying its core principles of purity and movement.

Lichtstruktur, stands as a powerful testament to Heinz Mack's rigorous investigation into light and material. Created in 1967, the work employs a rhythmic assembly of aluminium relief elements set against a silver cardboard ground. The focus is placed on the interaction between the monochromatic, reflective materials and the ambient light. As the viewer moves, the patterned aluminium surface catches the light, creating a shimmering field of shifting highlights and shadows, dissolving the stability of the plane into a highly dynamic, kinetic experience.

The work serves as a defining example of Heinz Mack’s known technique, directly reflecting the foundational aims of the co-founded ZERO Group. The name Lichtstruktur itself defines the artist’s central concept: creating structures designed purely to organize and articulate light. By employing reflective industrial materials like aluminium and silver cardboard, Mack sought to strip art down to its essential, irreducible elements, purity, movement, and light.

Mack's position as a pivotal figure in post-war European abstraction has secured his consistent institutional relevance. His works are held in the permanent collections of major museums worldwide. He was prominently featured in the landmark 2015 exhibition ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s–60s at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, which validated the movement's profound influence on contemporary art. Furthermore, his continuing explorations into light and perception are regularly celebrated in major European institutions, including exhibitions at the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, which holds a significant collection of his work.