Untitled

Immediately following the Second World War, Erwin Heerich, together with Joseph Beuys, began to study at the Academy of Art in Dsseldorf under the sculptor Ewald Mataré, famed for his geometrically-governed images and forms borrowed from nature. Contrary to Beuys, however, who pursued the spiritual and mythological aspects of natural materials and organic forms, Heerich chose to take a more analytical path comparable with that of American Minimalism. In all his sculptural works, the basic geometric forms of the cube, the cuboid, the pyramid, the cone and the cylinder are employed in whole, in part or in combination to create spatial constructions reminiscent of architectural forms. In some cases, as with the Museum Insel Hombroich in Neuss near Dsseldorf, Heerich was actually commissioned to design a series of exhibition pavilions for other works of art from the permanent collection. In all cases, be it sculpture or architecture, the material employed is, in and of itself, of little or no importance; rather, it serves only to illustrate the mathematical and geometrical principles governing a given work. In the final analysis, Heerich's sculptures can best be understood as models for sculptural principles, for formal axioms, and mathematical theories.