Landschaft

Before Günter Ferdinand Ris began working as a sculptor he created numerous paintings—from portraits to abstract representations. In these abstract works he constructed clearly structured pictorial spaces from geometrical forms and individual lines, a design principle he transferred to his sculptures.

This is exemplified by his work »Landscape«: the flat structural form rests on a transparent pedestal, which lends it the appearance of suspended weightlessness. In his group of works made of white plastic, Paysages architecturals (architectonic landscapes), Ris, although initially inspired by nature, was primarily interested in its dynamic structures.

He perceived the landscape as a surface extending into space, which in turn is composed of organically curved and interpenetrating levels. Ris then fused these levels to form an aesthetic unity of rest and movement.