ZEROing in on the New York art scene

On the second floor of a 10,000 sq. ft. building at 415 West 13th St. is the Sperone Westwater Gallery, neighbor to trendy restaurants Spice Market and Fig and Olive.

Inside the building, a genial doorman led me up the stairs, where the gallery's receptionist obligingly asked if I needed assistance. "Why yes," I responded, "I'd love to speak to someone about your art."

Within two minutes, Maryse Brand, gallery associate and exhibition spokeswoman, was explaining everything about the gallery's current exhibition, "ZERO in New York," which had opened eight days prior.

The ZERO artistic movement began with the collaboration of three German artists - Heinz Mack, Otto Piene and Gunther Uecker - in the late 1950s. In response to the technological advancements of Germany's post-war period, ZERO artists focused on the concepts of light, movement and energy by incorporating "non-art" materials, such as light bulbs, pennies and nails, into their works.

From 1957 to 1966, the ZERO movement expanded to include artists across Western Europe. Eventually, Brand explained, their artwork "bled" into the United States and was exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia in 1965. More than 40 years later, the works have made their New York City debut at Sperone Westwater.

For nearly two hours, I weaved in and out of the airy gallery rooms, trying to grapple with the artists' intention to, as Brand described it, "reach infinite space."

The exhibition is thoughtfully organized, including the artist's name but not the work's title next to each piece. Perhaps the titles would only distract the viewer from understanding the significance of the art? Each work has the potential to be interpreted in many different ways. For instance, on one of Lucio Fontana's canvases, he simulated a wave by punching holes along the canvas. Or is it a planetary constellation? On another, Fontana violently and sporadically thrashed into the canvas, transforming it into rawhide. Or withered tarp? Other works include burnt paper, soot, wood, steel discs, barbed wire, corks and mirrors.

Piene defined ZERO in 1964 as "a word indicating a zone of silence and of pure possibilities for a new beginning as the count-down when rockets take off." Still alive and kicking, Piene assisted Sperone Westwater director David Leiber with the construction of the exhibition, which begins with an installation of Piene's art emulating a 1965 solo exhibition of his.

The installation includes three of Piene's works, all from 1965: "Light Ballet on Wheels," "Little Black Lighthouse" and "Electric Anaconda." All involve light bulbs and flat black paint, but while Piene employed brass globes in "Lighthouse" and "Anaconda," "Light Ballet" includes an aluminum drum, four wheels and glass.

If the room had been pitch-black, I would have undoubtedly fallen asleep. As the circular drum rotated, it projected drifting flower petals and stars across the ceiling. I stood transfixed by Piene's delicate mobile, gazing at the figures emanating from the light bulbs within the drum to the walls and thought, "so this is infinite space."