Wolfgang Laib
Wolfgang Laib (born 25 March 1950) is a German conceptual artist working predominantly with natural materials.
[edit] Biography
Laib studied medicine in the 1970s in Tübingen. From early on he had been interested in art, foreign cultures and eastern philosophies such as Zen Buddhism and Taoism, but also for the mystics of the European middle ages.
His work may be grouped with Land Art and he shows influences of Minimalism. He employs natural materials, such as beeswax and rice. Most notable is his use of large quantities of intense, yellow pollen that he collects by hand, then spreads over large areas of floor or piles to conical heaps. He also became famous for his so-called "milk stones": big blocks of marble into which very shallow depressions are sanded, then filled with milk.Wolfgang also uses wood in his artwork.
Laib considers nature as something to be experienced through the senses, but not the goal of his work; it is rather a space for activity and contemplation to point towards larger contexts. Frequent codes in his work include: "cell", "wall", "seed" and "boat".
[edit] Works
In 1982 Laib exhibited in the German Pavilion during the Biennale di Venezia. A Retrospective of his work toured through the United States from 2000 until 2002.
