German artist Günther Uecker creates works that elevate everyday materials through implausible and surprisingly poetic arrangements. Bewegtes Feld (Animated Field), 1963, in Glenstone’s collection, is a plain square canvas into which the artist has hammered hundreds of ordinary nails. The arrangement—painted entirely in white—becomes a dynamic, tactile object with a depth of presence that far surpasses the sum of its parts. Light bounces across the three-dimensional surface, brightening the sparsely populated edges, while shadows deepen areas more densely packed with nails. Uecker aligns his approach to working the canvas with that of a farmer working the soil—the reference to the canvas as a “Field” in the title is intentional—and he works on his pieces mainly from the floor, as opposed to an easel or wall.
–From the Glenstone Field Guide