Frank Gerritz

Born in Hamburg, Germany, 1964

Lives and works in Hamburg, Germany

Frank Gerritz is a sculptor working primarily in monochromatic tones. Created with industrial materials including cast iron, oil paint-stick on anodised aluminium and pencil on MDF, paper or as wall drawings applied directly on the wall. Gerritz’s works are executed with precision, proportional systems and intrinsic geometric compositions.

Alongside his early cast-iron sculptures, the artist included works on paper in his sculptural installations. Here the sculptures occupy a space on the floor, whereas drawings of the frontal and top view of the sculpture translate the visual weight to eye level. Prints of the sculpture’s underside completed the installation and depicted a hidden side. Indeed, Gerritz's drawings and prints reveal a new relationship between the second and third dimensions.

The wall-based oil paint-stick works on anodised aluminium describe a similar sculptural space, their composition often encompassing the edges of each panel. The carefully manipulated surface of the black paint and the contrasting light-reflecting surface of the anodised aluminium panel project the surrounding space and echo the light condition and colours surrounding the work.

Gerritz creates his drawings by applying layers and layers of graphite with a Faber Castell 9B pencil. The monumental installation ‘Lowdown’ in Bremen comprises 9 metres of graphite applied directly to the museum wall. As the compressed oils within the pencil lead are released, the surface of the drawing becomes progressively shinier with each layer.

The wall drawing’s reflective quality enables the surface to subtly shift and change based on ambient light sources. Gerritz describes his drawings as ‘almost like mirrors, reflecting the surrounding outside world inside the surfaces of my works.’

His works on MDF and paper comprise a similar sense of a highly controlled interplay between the deeply constructed pencil surface and the light that reflects and renders the surface of each work. Here too, the artist translates the concerns of sculpture into a two-dimensional medium through an unparalleled knowledge of composition and surface manipulation.

In 2010 Gerritz was awarded the ‘Edwin Scharff Prize’, in recognition of his contribution to The Arts in Hamburg and his outstanding artistic career spanning three decades. His works can be seen in numerous private and public collections across the globe.

Biography

Frank Gerritz (born 1964) lives and works in Hamburg, Germany. Working in sculpture, drawing, and works on paper, he creates pieces using industrial materials, including cast iron, oil paint-stick on anodised aluminium, and pencil on MDF, paper, and directly on walls. His practice is characterised by monochromatic tones, precision, proportional systems, and intrinsic geometric compositions.

Alongside his cast-iron sculptures, Gerritz incorporates works on paper into sculptural installations, in which drawings of the frontal and top views of a sculpture translate its visual weight to eye level, while prints of the underside reveal a hidden dimension. His wall-based oil paint-stick works on anodised aluminium describe a sculptural space whose carefully manipulated black surface contrasts with the light-reflecting aluminium to project the surrounding environment. His graphite drawings — built up through successive layers of a Faber-Castell 9B pencil — develop an increasingly reflective surface that shifts with ambient light; Gerritz has described them as "almost like mirrors, reflecting the surrounding outside world inside the surfaces of my works."

In 2010, he received the Edward Scharff Prize, Hamburg. His work is held in numerous public collections, including the National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Menil Collection, Houston; Harvard University Art Museums; the Brooklyn Museum; the Hamburger Kunsthalle; Gemeentemuseum Den Haag; Yale University Art Gallery; and the Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, among others.