Gunther
Uecker

Spirale I/Spirale II (Doppelspirale) (1997) achieved Uecker's current auction record when it sold at Christie's London in March 2017 for around 50% above its high estimate - a substantial increase on its 2016 sale value of £906,257. This large-scale diptych from his celebrated series of nail paintings consists of two square panels, each measuring 200 × 200 cm. Hammered into the canvases with bristling precision, the centrifugal patterns of nails create dizzying whirlpools of light and shadow that seem to rotate before the viewer. For Uecker, the nail carries profound personal significance, rooted in his childhood experiences during World War II. As a teenager, he used nails to board up his family home against approaching Soviet troops, creating what he would later describe as his first “nail work.” The industrial nail - typically associated with construction and fixity - becomes a means of creating visual flux and movement in Uecker’s artwork, giving form to invisible forces of time and motion.

Both (2011) represents the mature form of Uecker's nail technique. It sold at Van Ham Kunstauktionen, Cologne, in November 2017 for more than twice its high estimate of €800,000. The piece features familiar clusters of countless nails, one slightly smaller than the other, converging in the centre of the canvas. The pair, and the work’s title, suggests both duality and relationship - themes that have preoccupied Uecker throughout his career as he explores the interplay between light and shadow, presence and absence, protection and aggression. In this case, the disparate sizing of the two spirals suggests the relationship is parenthood. Uecker created Both (2011) at the age of 81, decades after his initial experiments with nails in the late 1950s. By this point in his career, his technique had evolved from the more mechanical, pattern-based early works to more organic, intuitive compositions that reflect his deepening philosophical concerns with human existence, spirituality, and ecological awareness.

One of many works with the same title, Weisses Feld (1972), or “White Field,” sold at Sotheby's Paris in June 2021. It is the largest artwork, at 160 x 160cm, from Uecker's most sought-after decade to ever be presented at auction. It was executed exactly 10 years after the inaugural exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam of the ZERO group, and two years after Uecker's participation in the Venice Biennale. The piece features white-painted nails and cotton, and, although the materials are technically the same colour as the panel behind them, the shadows they cast give the work visual texture. Uecker's choice of white - a signature colour throughout his career - reflects his interest in purity, silence, and the void, concepts central to the ZERO group's philosophy. For Uecker, white represented the meeting point of all other colours, a concept influenced by his study of Eastern philosophy and meditation practices. The provenance of this piece is particularly noteworthy, as it was acquired directly from the artist by the previous owner in 1972 and remained in the same collection until its 2021 sale, highlighting the long-term appreciation many collectors have for Uecker's work.