Arte Fiera 2022

Allegra Ravizza and Volker Diehl are pleased to present for the first time to the public ARCHIV GÜNTER WESELER.

Following the death of Günter Weseler – which took place in September 2020 -, after an intense collaboration and a long relationship of esteem and friendship, the two gallerists Volker Diehl and Allegra Ravizza are pleased to announce their desire to continue to support and promote and preserve his entire artistic work by creating an Archive in his honor that aims to collect, preserve and archive not only artworks, but also documents, projects, drawings, notes and the entire photographic and paper material of the artist.
Founded in January 2022, the Archiv Günter Weseler is located in the splendid eighteenth-century residence of Ca’ Amata in Castelfranco Veneto (TV), an elegant and at the same time intimate and familiar environment able to bring out the best of Weseler’s original works, unique in their kind.

For this edition of Artefiera, the Allegra Ravizza Gallery (Lugano), in collaboration with the Volker Diehl Galerie (Berlin), participates in the FOCUS section curated by Marco Meneguzzo on the theme of the Exact Art of the 1950s and 1960s.
In consideration of the theme chosen for this edition, the Galleries present a selection of works by Günter Weseler focused on the phenomenon of rhythm both in the spheres of music and breath.
Weakened and disturbed by throat and respiratory problems from a young age, Weseler has always based his artistic work and his research on breathing, as in its harmonic and disharmonious rhythm, on what it can cause and what alters and manipulates it.
After a few years as a self-taught painter and sculptor, tired of figurative art and moved by the desire to experiment more freely, between 1963 and 1964 Weseler found new inspiration in classical music: «I was listening to Bach’s music at that moment, in particular some fugues for harpsichord with a strong and dynamically articulated rhythm, which certainly persuaded me to make the structures scattered a little casually in my paintings more rigorous according to a rhythmic order ».
Starting from the mid-1960s, his artistic research has been increasingly inspired by the mathematical rigor intrinsic to musical composition, leading, in the following years, to an accurate investigation of the properties of sound and its acoustic repercussions in the surrounding environment, focusing especially on the phenomenon of breathing. Hence the concept of rhythm, cadence and sound wave present in music take shape in Weseler’s works: in the summer of 1966 he created his first Atemmusiken, the acoustic realization of rhythms and breathing noises, starting a series of works that evolved a few years later into the Atemobjeckt, a breathing object covered with synthetic fur or fur capable of reproducing the respiratory rhythm in its various cadences dictated by the emotions and sensations of individuals in relation to the surrounding environment. Each individual is influenced in a unique and personal way by the surrounding environment, but the effects that emotions have on breathing are the same in everyone: fear, anxiety and agitation lead to labored and panting breathing; calm instead generates slow, phlegmatic breathing. Each Atemobjeckt reproduces a certain respiratory rhythm and, therefore, a precise sensation. Although in the face of the countless situations of life the reactions may differ from individual to individual, the link between breathing and emotion unites every living being.
In front of Weseler’s unique and incomparable works, the viewer is often attracted first by the physical movement that the respiratory rhythm generates, then by the auditory one, remaining more and more hypnotized, sometimes fascinated, sometimes fascinated and never indifferent.

Günter Weseler was born in Allenstein, Poland, on March 2, 1930.
After obtaining the Diploma in Architecture, starting from 1958 he worked as a self-taught painte and sculptor. In 1960 he presented his first solo show at the Utermann Gallery in Dortmund (Germany). In 1964 he created the first Atemmusiken (music of breath), starting a series of works based on the phenomenon of the breath converted into music. Due to a throat disease that made it difficult for him to breathe, in his works Weseler elevated breath to an artistic element, expressing an almost neurotic sensitivity towards it. Convinced that it was possible to artificially control all the body’s organic processes through the use of chemicals and drugs, the artist experimented with them on himself with the aim of filling his imperfections at will. From this research the Atemobjeckte (breathing objects) were born, created with furs and a mechanical machine that reproduced the movement and sound of breathing. At the end of the seventies, Weseler combined the Atemobjekt with mirrors, creating his Spiegelobjekt: the hemispherical breathing object became a whole sphere by means of the mirror. In the eighties his work was characterized by the spiritual element and drew on the rituals and figures of the Mandala, magical ritual circles symbols of unity. Between 1989 and 1993 he has been a guest Professor at the Hochschule in Hamburg. In the 1990s the first Moosobjekte (objects with moss) and Mirror Objects – in which concrete and virtual elements interact – were made.

Günter Weseler’s works are part of numerous museums and collections including: the Düsseldorf Museum of Art, the Bremen Kunsthalle, the Sydney Museum of Contemporary Art, the Atheneum Museum of Helsinki, the Bern Museum of Art and the Stuttgart Institute for International Relations.
Tireless worker, his creations and his Atemobjekte accompanied him until his death, which took place on 26 September 2020 in Düsseldorf.

Galleria Allegra Ravizza
13th-15th May 2022
Quartiere fieristico di Bologna
http://www.artefiera.bolognafiere.it/