OTTO PIENE: PAINTINGS, GOUACHE, DRAWINGS

1975. (PIENE, Otto). COHEN, Susan E. OTTO PIENE: PAINTINGS, GOUACHE, DRAWINGS. [Catalogue of an exhibition at the] Hayden Gallery and the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 7-December 7, 1975. [Cambridge, MA]: MIT Committee on the Visual Arts, 1975. [4],52 pp. Illustrated with black & white reproductions. 4to., color pictorial wrappers. Housed in a custom made clamshell box. This copy is inscribed "Special New Year '76 edition" and signed by Piene on the title-page to the editor and coordinator of the exhibit Susan E. Cohen. The artist worked throughout this copy using several different techniques, such as tearing, burning and scorching leaves, as well as drawing with colored inks, to make this a unique copy. The final drawing of two large eyes extends over two pages (11 x 17.5") and is signed again at the lower right corner. Piene (German, 1928-2014) was on one of the founders of Group Zero (Cologne), one of many associations of kinetic artists formed in the late 1950s and early 60s. His fascination with light as an expansive medium has been evident in much of his work, as it is in the fire (a form of light) and smoke pictures illustrated in this catalogue. His progressive alterations and additions to this copy have a kinetic feel.