The Poetic Form in the Work of Reiner Seliger
Reiner Seliger’s work is multidisciplinary. Alongside his sculptural work, which primarily utilizes brick or terracotta, he creates wall pieces in which relief plays a central role. Materials, especially chalk, but also concrete or glass, serve as the foundation for a poetics of form, layering, and structure, exerting a considerable influence on the effect of his works. Through manipulation, combination, or radical interventions in the material, he alters its original meaning and reveals hidden properties. In this way, the material itself becomes a vehicle for expression, without the need for explicit narration.
The new, the enigmatic, and the mysterious are vividly present in his art. Carefully arranged sculptures and pictorial reliefs express a sense of poetic form that derives its meaning from the balance of shape and material. This balance is vital, for those who recognize that human senses, like feelers, detect imbalances within ourselves and the environment, understand the importance of inner equilibrium. To maintain this balance, the material aesthetician Reiner Seliger constructs poetic forms.
Reiner Seliger – represented in renowned collections and public spaces
Reiner Seliger’s works are represented in top-class collections such as Marli Hoppe-Ritter, Waldenbuch, Biedermann, Donaueschingen, Rittershaus, Mannheim and Merkle, Ulm. Since 2000, he has realized numerous art projects in public spaces, including at the Landesgartenschau in Baden-Württemberg, Weil am Rhein, and the Bundesgartenschau in Magdeburg, Sculpture Park Flottmann Hallen Herne, Sculpture Park Terre de Blanche, France, in Luisenpark Mannheim, Triennale of Sculpture Bad Ragartz, Switzerland, at the University of Niccosia, Cyprus, Sculpture Park Eskesehir, Türkei, Sculpture Park Eschborn, and at the GGN Foundation in Zurich, Switzerland.
Exhibitions and art fairs (selection)
2026:
– Meet the Artist, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Art Karlsruhe, Germany
2025:
– 21×21, Ruhrkunstmuseen in der Villa Hügel, Essen, Germany
– Parco delle Sculture, Castello di Montefioralle, Greve in Chianti, Toscana
– Art Karlsruhe, Germany
2024:
– Wegweisende Plastik der Gegenwart, Raum Schroth in Museum Morgner, Soest, Germany
– Geometrie Straordinarie, Fondazione Marcello Morandini, Varese, Italy
– Art Karlsruhe, Germany
– Galerie Schlichtenmaier, Stuttgart, Germany
– Galerie Schrade, Schloss Mochental, Germany
2023:
– #OrangeTheWorld, Galerie Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– 10 Jahre – Jubiläumsausstellung, Galerie Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Art Karlsruhe, Germany
– Binnenstrukturen, Galerie Schlichtenmaier, Stuttgart, Germany
– Zwischen den Dimensionen, Galerie Linde Hollinger, Ladenburg, Germany
– Zero 23, Galerie Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– LA MOSTRA, Galerie Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
2022:
– Young collectors’ choice 22, Gallery Geiger, Constance, Germany
– #OrangeTheWorld, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Fall exhibition, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Summer exhibition, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– The abstract landscape, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Accrochage, Gallery Fetzer, Sontheim an der Brenz, Germany
– Winter exhibition, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Art Karlsruhe, Gallery Linde Hollinger, Karlsruhe, Germany
2021:
– ORANGE DAYS – Zonta says no, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Lost Found, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Castello, Gallery Fetzer, Sontheim an der Brenz, Germany
– Highlights from 5 decades of gallery work, Gallery Schrade, Mochental, Germany
– All time classics, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Summertime, Gallery Fetzer, Sontheim an der Brenz, Germany
– Positions of Concrete Art, Gallery Schlichtenmaier, Dätzingen, Germany
– Departure into the 2020s, Gallery Schlichtenmaier, Dätzingen, Germany
– Spring exhibition, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Cologne Fine Art & Design, Cologne, Germany
2020:
– Brave my heart, Gallery Rother, Wiesbaden, Germany
– Night whispers of the towers, Skulpturenpark Eschborn, Eschborn, Germany
2019:
– ALLESINALLEM, Gallery Borchardt, Hamburg, Germany
– Structures!, Gallery Kellermann, Düsseldorf, Germany
– Whats up ?!, Gallery Schlichtenmaier, Dätzingen, Germany
– Cologne Fine Art & Design, Cologne, Germany
– Art Karlsruhe, Gallery Geiger, Karlsruhe, Germany
2018:
– Young collectors’ choice 18, Gallery Geiger, Constance, Germany
– Gallery Mariette Haas, Ingolstadt, Germany
– Two, Gallery Linde Hollinger, Ladenburg, Germany
2016:
– Young collectors’ choice 16, Gallery Geiger, Constance, Germany
– Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim, Germany
– Ulf Larsson Gallery, Cologne, Germany
2015:
– Young collectors’ choice 15, Gallery Geiger, Konstanz, Germany
– Gallery Borchardt, Hamburg, Germany
– Gallery Conny Dietzschold, Sydney, Australia
– Gallery at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany
– Art Fair Cologne, Cologne, Germany
2014:
– Gallery Schrade, Karslruhe, Germany
– Gallery P13, Heidelberg, Germany
– Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland
2013:
–Gallery Schrade, Mochental, Germany
– Art Basel, Basel, Switzerland
– Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany
– Art Paris, Paris, France
2012:
– Gallery La Ligne, Zurich, Switzerland
– Playing with pictorial means, Gallery Linde Hollinger, Ladenburg, Germany
2011:
– Gallery P13, Heidelberg, Germany
2010:
– Gallery Münsterland, Emsdetten, Germany
– Gallery Hoffmann, Friedberg, Germany
Works in public space
– Sculpture Park Eschborn, Germany
– State Building Authority Radolfzell, Germany
– Seprais Sculpture Park, Délemont, Switzerland
– Lörrach City Library, Germany
– Sculpture Park Mechernich, Germany
– Federal Garden Show Magdeburg, Germany
– State Garden Show Baden-Württemberg, Weil am Rhein, Germany
– Sculpture Park Elbtal, Germany
– State Garden Show Rhineland-Palatinate, Kaiserslautern, Germany
– Sculpture Park Binnenheide, Kevelaer, Germany
– Blickachsen 3, Bad Homburg, Germany
– Luisenpark, Mannheim, Germany
– Eskesehir University, Turkey
– Kunstverein Mannheim, Germany
– Sculpture Park Herne, Germany
– Sculpture Park Eschborn, Germany
– Sculpture Park Heidelberg, Germany
Collections
– Ricardo Gelael Collection, Jakarta, Indonesia
– Private Collection W. Nickl, Eindhoven, Netherlands
– Marli Hoppe-Ritter Collection, Waldenbuch, Germany
– Biedermann Collection, MUSEUM ART.PLUS, Donaueschingen, Germany
– Heinrich Vetter Foundation Collection, Mannheim, Germany
– Rittershaus Collection, Mannheim, Germany
– Gertraud Hurrle Collection, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
– Christa Dicke Collection, Ennepetal, Germany
– Patsch-Blum Collection, Zurich, Switzerland
– Merkle Collection, Ulm, Germany
– Collection Museum for Concrete Art, Ingolstadt, Germany
Prizes and awards
2000:
– Art Prize of the City of Bühl and for artistic photography, Bühl, Germany
1994:
– Art Prize “Hohes Haus” (sculpture), Constance, Germany
The poetry of structures in award-winning works
Reiner Seliger was born in Löwenberg, Silesia, in 1943. In 1952, the family moved to Düsseldorf, where he lived until 1970. From 1964 to 1969, he studied industrial design at the Essen University of Applied Sciences and took part in the EXPO ’67 world exhibition in Montreal, Canada, in 1967.
In 1969, Reiner Seliger was nominated for the Folkwang Prize Essen; in 1994, he won the ‘Hohes Haus’ art prize in Constance; and in 2000, he was awarded the art prize of the city of Bühl.
Reiner Seliger currently lives and works in Freiburg and Castello di Montefioralle, Italy.
