German sculptor and conceptual artist Reiner Ruthenbeck is an orchestrator of geometric form, noted for his ability to transform space using unconventional materials such as crumpled paper or swathes of fabric. Ruthenbeck’s work subverts the familiar, using minimalist objects and simple everyday materials to explore architecture, iconology, perception, and in later works, sound. In 2006, Ruthenbeck wrote, “we are moving towards immaterial art, yet we only approach it in small steps.” From 1968 to 1972 he created several piles and cones made of ash, slag, and paper. Later, he would present utilitarian objects like chairs, tables and a suitcase, stripped of their function and thus exaggerating the objects’ pure shapes. In 1986 the artist said, "In my work I have often presented contrasts, polar elements, tensions, and tried to bring these into a formal unity. I have reduced formal structures as far as possible. The result seems to offer relatively little nourishment to the intellect. I would like thereby to bring the viewer to a contemplative, holistic acceptance of my art."

Ruthenbeck has exhibited widely in Europe since the late 1960s. He has had solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Dusseldorf and Wilhelm Lembruck Museum in Duisburg, Museum Folkwang in Essen, Goethe- Institut in London, Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Nationalgalerie / Altes Museum in Berlin, Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and Galerie Konrad Fischer in Dusseldorf, among other insitutions. Together with Joseph Beuys and Jochen Gerz he exhibited in the German Pavilion at the 37th Venice Biennale in 1976. His work has been included in group exhibitions at Hayward Gallery in London, Skulptur Projekte Munster (1987 and 1997), dOCUMENTA 5, 6, 7, and 9 in Kassel (1972–1992), and Harald Szeemann’s seminal exhibition “Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form” at Kunsthalle Bern in 1969.

Courtesy of Serpentine Galleries