Zangs at Grass’s. Structural Formations

„Zangs at Grass’s. Structural Formations” is an exhibition presenting four artistic decades of the German artist Herbert Zangs (1924-2003), an acquaintance of Günter Grass. They studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf and both earned their living at the “Csikos”, the club where Grass performed as a musician.  The echoes of this friendship can be found in Günter Grass’s prose. The title “Structural Formations” refers to the painting style of Herbert Lankes – Herbert Zangs’s alter ego portrayed in the “Tin drum” and is relevant to the abstract expressionist works which Zangs created in the 50’s.

The exhibition combines motifs typical of Zangs’s art in three sets representing the consecutive stages of his artistic ouevre – from the expressive – naturalist representations through the abstract forms manifested mainly in the Informel style. The display includes: Drippings inspired by Jackson Pollock and Zabielenia/Whitened – white-painted objects (eg. Loom, 1953); works referring to objets trouvés employed by the Dadaists and Surrealists (objects and pictures combined from everyday items), white works of the Plus-Minus group and from the Wiązania/Knottings series (corks and stones knotted with thread onto the canvas, forming structural compositions). The vital part of the exhibition is the juxtaposition of paintings by Grass and Zangs from the early 50s, as well as the display of Anty-książki/Anti-books created by Zangs since the mid-70’s and presented at the Documenta 6/1977. They provide a controversial context for Grass’s writings and his disapproval of abstract art.

What distinguishes Zangs’s artistic creation is the unique treatment of the material. He explored the specific character of various materials, converted them, composed their variations, transgressed the aesthetic canon and the limits of a traditionally understood piece of art. He always felt the urge to experiment and create new things, which might be the consequence of his artistic stance marked by a child-like openness and curiosity verging on naivety. Zangs’s artistic creation can be received in the context of such artists as Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni or the ZERO group. He was always perceived as a controversial personage: both as an individual and as an artist prone to make original decisions. The exhibition is accompanied by three documentaries providing an opportunity to get acquainted with this original individuality.

Herbert Zangs – born on 27^th March 1924 in Krefeld, Germany. 1941 – 1945 military service in Scandinavia. In years 1945-1949 studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf, simultaneously with Joseph Beuys and Günter Grass. Zangs’s first solo exhibition at the Museum in Krefeld in 1950  was followed by numerous displays, prizes and round-the-world tours. Between 1962 and 1977 Zangs lived in the south of France and later in Paris, before finally returning and settling in Germany. In 1992/93 his both legs were amputated due to ill-treated diabetes. Died on 26^th March 2003 at the age of 79.