Otto Piene’s 1969 lithograph Looping (Sky Art IV) vividly captures the artist’s utopian Sky Art vision that joins art, humanity, and technology. Piene’s work features an intricate display of geometric bodily forms. The accompanying text reinforces Piene’s ambitious thought process behind his Sky Art series. The figures consist of angular legs, fingers, arms, hands, torsos, and bulbous heads. This work was related to Piene’s membership in the 1957 Group Zero movement which had goals of fusing art and technology to achieve a reformed and harmonious society after World War II. The text and the combination of the figure are a testament to Piene’s goal of constructing an art form that embraced community engagement.
“I chose the Piene piece because there is an energy within this work that binds humans and art. After studying Piene more closely, I found his passion even more fascinating. He is conveying how art can be used in productive ways and its ability to intersect with other elements of the physical world.”
– Juhianna Boeye, co-curator, American University