Universally, the object of my visual thinking is that which the composer Morton Feldman termed 'the abstract experience.' The synergy of the hands' intelligence in dealing with the material properties of graphite and paper (that is, the physical act of manual production) with the discipline essential to such performance forms the basis of all my 'visible' works, which follow as well the rules of conceptual procedures that I devise and apply. My drawings are based on precise concepts. I develop these concepts in writing and sketches, after which I execute the works in detail. I am equally interested in symmetry and asymmetry. Both of these possibilities serve me as principles of organisation and permit me to fabricate structures. Owing to the fact that I accept certain possibilities while rejecting others, that is, employ a concept, images come to be that exceed that which I envision, which are indeed unforeseeable and which nonetheless represent visible realisations of my plans. In all my acoustical works sound is the major consideration. I invent concepts, which when realised, result in sounding objects, sound-producing constructions. The objective of my conceptual work is to create conditions under which structures can develop audibly and in my drawings visibly. Creating drawings and creating sounds are to me different aspects of the same function - Eberhard Blum.


Runge-Prize exhibition, Berlinische Galerie, Berlin 1995
Three drawings by Eberhard Blum from the museum's collection

See more visual work by Eberhard Blum at:
EberhardBlum.org