As a sculptor, graphic artist, performer and art teacher, Norbert Nestler (1942–2014) had a longstanding influence on the art world in Graz. In a retrospective developed in cooperation with the artist, featuring final tube graphics devised for the staircase, Neue Galerie Graz is now presenting a chronological selection (1967‑2014) of objects, installations and graphical works of the artist who passed away in January 2014.
Originally a painter, Norbert Nestler explored the penetration of space. Expanding dimensions, he developed translucent graphics, portable sculptures, and parasitic objects. His oeuvre is closely linked to developments in materials and media since the 1960s, whose permeable properties he tested continuously. Unusual materials, experiments and performative actions are characteristic of Nestler’s cross-media oeuvre.
He experimented with new materials such as light prints or acrylic glass. Light becomes an active part of his work, the surface a layered sculpture, the tube a motif of the future.
The exhibition represents the portrait of a graphic artist and maker of objects in the sense of object art across different media and kinetic, performative fusion.
