Fita decrescente no espaço

Artist name

Artist year born

1911

Artist year deceased

2005

Artwork make date

1992

Artwork title translation

A tape that descends in space

Artwork material

steel

Artwork dimensions

height: 220cm
width: 290cm
depth: 230cm

Artwork type (categories)

Sculpture

Accession method

Donated by Franz Weissmann 1996

Accession number

22-1996

Label text

Having begun his career as a figurative sculptor, Franz Weissmann embraced geometric-based abstraction around 1950, when he produced Cubo Vazado (Emptied Cube). This work established the direction for all the work he was to subsequently produce, presenting for the first time the principle premise of the artist's production: that of the creation of form through the absence of matter.

The metallic mass of Weissman's sculpture became a framing device, modelling the space within its boundaries, with the forms produced by both positive and negative spaces changing according to the movement of the viewer.

Other works by the artist have developed from this premise through a simple procedure of variation: the relatively thick square section of Cubo Vazado is transformed into a wire that outlines different possible solids; a plate or blade is folded and soldered to produce a dynamic sequence of elements, and - as is the case with Fita decrescente no espaço - a tape recoils, opening itself up to the world, letting the void that it contains gradually dissipate to the outside.

Michael Asbury

Last updated date

2008