Xyz

Matthias Goeritz began his series of constructions called “Messages" in 1958, after suffering a personal loss. This abstract work is related to his theory of “emotional architecture,” which sought to push architecture beyond functionality to inspire in the viewer a sense of awe and the spiritual in art. In this work, Goeritz ignores the demands of grammar to focus on the pattern of perforations of the gold surface in a hammered syntax symbolizing loss and grief. During the 1960s, Goeritz became interested in the international Concrete Poetry movement. In "Xyz," a work that is folded like a small paper totem, Goeritz plays with an approach akin to his earlier "Messages," repetitively striking the surface of the page with three typewriter keys to create regular patterns. "Futura I: The Golden Message" is part of a series of publications dedicated to the famous German font. For that work, the artist constructed a series of squares by using the palindromic Spanish word for gold, "oro."