For more than twenty years now, glass, aluminum, and neon tubes have been the main components of Keith Sonnier’s oeuvre. In his latest pieces, these materials have been joined by antennas or antennalike constructions. Using associative, pictorial, and concrete references, these elements link up with systems that exist outside the works. Sonnier’s works also hint at autonomous structures, but such a formalist interpretation, dictating a value through self-referentiality, is constantly disrupted. Thus, the transformers or the cables of the neon tubes are elements designating the interface between

The gallery space was stuffed to the gills with neatly arranged East German refuse—that is, you instantly think of refuse when you see the faded flags, the old toys, the gray paper bags and yellowed boxes, the jars and bottles, the blue work smocks—the kind of stuff you get rid of when you feel it’s old, useless, or defective. And you think of the (former) German Democratic Republic, a deceased system, as soon as you take a close look at these objects, for example, the cross on the wall. This cross, roughly constructed, is made up of metal, an East German license plate, and a toy car (a Trabi,

This exhibition of Hubert Kiecol’s drawings was divided into three parts. However distinct the groups and their titles—“Waben” (Honeycombs; all works 1991), “Heilige” (Saints), and “Leitern” (Ladders)—may be, the interrelationships among the parts are obvious. What they share, along with the single size of each individual series, is the artist’s urge as a draftsman: using powerful lines, he tries to find a balance between filling surfaces and draining them, between the translucence and the opacity of the images. Still, all these works convey a sense of elementary lightness. The blending of these

In Germany, at least, Klaus Rinke, now fifty years old, is gaining long-overdue recognition. His mostly sculptural works are marked by an independent artistic approach and a unique execution. Furthermore, after years of teaching at the Düsseldorf academy, Rinke has influenced several young sculptors, including Tony Cragg and Asta Gröting, both better known than he. This exhibition covered work of the past two years. These are quiet pieces, which, upon contemplation, reveal the essence of Rinke’s oeuvre. His works defy the usual categories of sculpture, and perhaps that’s why they have lurked in