Wolfgang Laib
Wolfgang Laib (* March 25, 1950 Metzingen ) is a German artist.
Life and work
Loaf comes from a family of doctors, grew up in the Upper Swabian Biberach an der Riss on and studied from 1968 to 1974, first medicine in Tübingen. Early on, he began to be taking an interest in art and, under the influence of his mentor, Biberach landscape painter Jacob Bräckle, for Far Eastern culture and philosophy such as Zen Buddhism, Taoism and the mysticism of the Middle Ages in Europe ( Francis of Assisi ).
Laib's work is often called the land allocated to nature, in his work but can also detect influences of minimalism. Characteristic of loaf is working with natural materials, such as Beeswax, even collected pollen and rice. He became known mainly through the so-called milk Stones: Large marble blocks, which are only a millimeter deep ground out and filled with milk. Nature is for him sensually experiential means, but not the goal of his art, but work and worship space to refer to larger contexts. Often used ciphers with him are: cell wall, seed and ship.
The first retrospective exhibition of his work toured from 2000 to 2002 by the United States and was, among other things the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC, also seen in the Munich Haus der Kunst later.