Michael Becker: Light, Space and Colour

Artist list

Michael Becker

Colors and Stones

Over the past few years, I have searched for a technique that would allow me to work with intensely colored monochrome surfaces.
My goal was to achieve a result that would be comparable to natural stones in both stability and usability. I searched for intensely colorful stones and minerals that are found in nature. In the course of my search, I came across the Afghan lapis lazuli--the stone which, before the invention of synthetic pigments, provided the most marvelous blue for painting. After examining many boxes of blue stones at Idar Oberstein, I became captivated not only by the color, but also by the surface, the "stone quality" of these blue rocks. It was at this point that I began to look for deeply colorful raw stones with an interesting, "speaking" surface: a surface which--as a consciously chosen and extracted sample--would serve as a miniature of the great forms of nature and natural phenomena. And, of course, it would also speak of its color.
Beside the lapis, I also work with a green Russian garnet (Uvarovite). I grind and polish the stones into thin tiles whose surfaces are covered with small green garnet crystals. The naturally shaped crystalline surfaces all feature a monochrome color.
Dolomite from China also caught my attention because it is the matrix stone of cinnabar. This mineral mesmerizes the observer through its beautiful shades of grey and its white crystalline enclosures. I cut these stones according to my needs.
Since a bright, opaque red does not exist as a mineral, I use a synthetic pigment for this color. After the treatment, its surface is matte and resembles that of a stone both in the effects of the color and in stability. If applied in a thick layer, its stone-like character is amplified. A thin layer, in contrast, appears like a painted surface. In my work, I make use of both techniques.

Michael Becker 2009 


Gold & Structures

I am fascinated by structures which form the basis of things and in the hidden networks of these structures. In addition to creating the inner structures of a piece, I am also interested in its sculptural and spatial quality. Through the arrangement of thin gold sheets, environments of open spaces are being formed, whereby the inner and outer aspects are simultaneously visible.
The nature of gold is ambiguous: in one respect, its bright, monochrome yellow color is distinctly perceptible as a three-dimensional material.
On the other hand, gold is dematerialized by radiant light. The interplay of dimension, surface-formation and light, impart gold with a polychromatic appearance, created by a spectrum of light and different intensities of luminosity.
In my work, gold is tangible substance and light. 

Michael Becker