Emotional. Rational.

Lechner combined his desire to create and his strong passion with the analysis of geometric form and steel. “No sculptor has ever made such discoveries on the cube, no one recognized steel with so much accuracy. “, wrote Manfred Schneckenburger, former director of the Kunsthalle in Cologne and director of Documenta in Kassel in 1995 about Alf Lechner.

With individual contiguous lines, these works describe the sides and diagonals in a cube and thus become surprising, independent sculptures. Supplemented with photos of the completed works, which can be viewed in the sculpture park in Obereichstätt, the entire development of a Lechner sculpture becomes comprehensible. In another room, the six large-format drawings from 1989, In Writing Direction, enter into dialogue with the XXII surface construction from 1976, a work from a series of glass and steel sculptures in which a glass pane and a steel frame square stabilize each other, and provide an insight into Lechner's joy of experimentation and desire to explore. On the ground floor, Lechner's engagement with steel as a material can be experienced three-dimensionally. Lechner was fascinated by liquid steel. Glowing steel, which is also thought to be in the Earth's core, acts as an archaic element and can arouse strong emotions. The liquid state of the steel becomes visible to visitors with the Bizarre Surfaces room installation. It is the new version, which was developed in three different versions by Lechner from 2006 to 2016, and is being seen in this form for the first time. Visually - through its varied surface structures - and formally - through its enchanted firepower - it represents an important late work by the sculptor who died in 2017.

Welded horizontally into steel frames, the surfaces look like an attempt to curb emotions within a rational framework. But in some places, the works break out of the ordinary. These exciting focal areas invite you to explore. In addition to the exhibition, Lechner's so-called emotional drawings will be shown in the paper house of the sculpture park in Obereichstätt. They were caused, among other things, by abrasion or movement against retreating resistance. They are abstract drawings that are reminiscent of flying sparks and impressively convey the artist's intensity and passion. The exhibition emotional. rational. conveys how Alf Lechner used strong passion, enthusiasm and willingness to experiment with a great deal of analytical ability and planning in such a way that he brought solid steel and geometric forms into an impressive artistic harmony.

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