Anröchter Stone; 260 (h) x 197 x 70 cm

„The quarry is his studio: Ulrich Rückriem (* 1938) sinks wedges into holes and drives them into the rock with the sledgehammer, splitting it open after a few blows. Made from Anröchter Stone – some 100 million years old – the sculpture is completed when the individual parts are reassembled at the fracture planes. Rückriem as a trained stonemason reveals the essence of the rock, the tension which it holds inside, its actual shape, its spatial radiation, and its causal relation to the ground on which it rests

On the Moltkeplatz, the surface of the wedge-shaped sculpture, made of four stone blocks piled on top of each other, gradually takes on the visual appearance of the surrounding trees. After the obviously artificial intervention, mother nature takes back what is hers. And the rock remains a rock: massive, immovable.

On the Moltkeplatz, the surface of the wedge-shaped sculpture, made of four stone blocks piled on top of each other, gradually takes on the visual appearance of the surrounding trees. After the obviously artificial intervention, mother nature takes back what is hers. And the rock remains a rock: massive, immovable.“
(Tankred Stachelhaus)

„Pulling out of the mountain, watching, deciding..“
(Ulrich Rückriem)

More about Ulrich Rückriem and other of his works in public spaces in Essen here.