Half a century ago, Holger Skiebe, a talented, visionary craftsman, went on a journey of exploration with his “painting machine”. It is formidable to see how, in the beginning with a converted record player, later on perfected by using a repurposed potter’s wheel, pictures were created that captivate even today by their clearness and beauty.

Under the pseudonym Rotar he dedicated his creative power to a motif that has been fascinating mankind since the beginning of time. Both in mathematics and in art, the boldest mind have considered the spiral of central importance, using reality as inspiration. The “smeared spirals” created in the 1970s anticipate pictures that have today become realistic by means of space telescopes. To create such images, which were manifest in his mind’s eye, Rotar made use of the physical phenomenon of rotation. Technology helped but had to be made controllable by the artist in a process of highest concentration. Even the seemingly simplest result, a linear spiral that appears light enough to float, is extremely expressive. As viewers of his works, the artist allows us to become discoverers of new pictorial worlds ourselves, and we follow him on his imaginary journeys.

Rotar’s position in 20th century art is extraordinary. The sensitive black and white paper works of the 1960s and 1970s are for me the peak of his creative work. This publication presents his major drawings for the first time.

Dierk Dierking