Betty Rieckmann

Born and raised in Palo Alto/California, Betty Rieckmann's involvement with James Turrell's light spaces and abstract expressionism led to constructions of light paintings. Her attention is focused on the effect of light on people and how it changes as we see, with the physical properties of light and the rhythmic intervals of colour shifts working together.
She works in parallel on different groups of works and creates objects and entire installations out of light, with which she makes art-historical references on a formal level, for example to the painters Frank Stella ("a morphing Frank Stella" ) or Mark Rothko ("between clouds").
The viewer finds himself in quietly pulsating colour spaces that change according to gentle rhythms. The scale of the colour spectrum varies and the slower the time sequence of the light movement, the less the eye is able to perceive the colour metamorphoses taking place.
With the works from the series "a morphing Frank Stella", Rieckmann takes up the idea of Stella's paintings "concentric squares" and sets the static colour effect in motion. One is almost tempted to say she paints with light! The work takes Stella's frame colours three-dimensionally and replaces them with light. If you look at the work from the front, the illumination of the colour fields causes it to lose its three-dimensional form and thus also its depth. The light sculpture becomes a light image again and resembles a coloured canvas. The light changes continuously and allows an unlimited number of colour and space combinations to be created. By choosing certain colour combinations, individual surfaces move into the foreground or background - red, for example, moves to the front, blue to the back. The works take on an almost hypnotic aura that seems to draw the viewer into the light images.
The works in the more recent group of works "between clouds" glow in a diffuse light, which blurs the boundaries between the individual colours and is reminiscent of the vibrant power of Mark Rothko's paintings with their blurred areas of colour. The viewer is transported into a contemplative mood here.

The artist uses modern LED technology in her light sculptures, which is controlled by special software. The colours in her objects change constantly and so calmly that the human eye does not even notice them at first. The works, each programmed differently, create a potentially infinite variety of dynamic colour gradients and colour combinations and form themselves into a spatial installation that has a lasting effect on their surroundings.
The colours red, green, blue and white mix in different intensities (0-250).
The colour combinations appear randomly, no combination repeats in the same way, each colour combination is unique.

Betty Rieckmann first studied painting and graphics with Professor Erwin Gross at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe and then lighting design in Hildesheim. In her works, she combines knowledge of the history of painting with technical knowledge, which makes her unique works so special.

Born 1986 in Palo Alto, USA. Lives and works in Karlsruhe.

Prizes & Grants

Collections

Günther Tetzner, Timon Baugruppe, Ettlingen
Credit Suisse Bank, Frankfurt
EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe
Museum Ritter - Collection Marli Hoppe-Ritter, Waldenbuch
Collection Würth
Collection Siegfried Grauwinkel, Berlin
Natus GmbH, Trier
Schufa Holding AG, Wiesbaden

Solo exhibitions (selection)

Group exhibition (selection)