A text by Kornelia Röder on the occasion of the exhibition of Alfred Heth's work (together with Heinz Breloh) in the Weitendorf Chapel in 1995
When I visit Alfred Heth in his studio, I am always newly fascinated by the diversity of artistic works to be discovered. Some have already had to be stored elsewhere, as the space in which Alfred Heth works in Wismar is not exactly large. Models, sketches of ideas, works the artist is currently engaged in, or works he needs for further exploration, nevertheless convey an impression of the multifaceted nature of his art. For years, Heth has distinguished himself by having the courage and strength to develop new artistic forms in which he expresses what is important and meaningful to him. I would not describe his approach as having a message, because Alfred Heth presents himself neither as a moralist nor as a prophet. Commandments, prohibitions, and salvation truths lie outside his philosophy of life. He himself was far too often confronted with externally imposed regulations, forced to choose between conformity, refusal, and resistance.
He never made things easy for himself. For years, he crafted jewelry to secure his family's and his own livelihood. This situation shaped him as a person and thus as an artist for whom form still carries intellectual and emotional meaning. He didn't conform and created works that simply didn't fit the image of socialist realism. Until the early 1980s, it was his abstract works that caused a stir, that provoked conventional ways of seeing. When these works gained increasing acceptance and some believed they could categorize Alfred Heth as an abstract artist, he began working sculpturally. Figurative works emerged that consciously incorporated space as a design element in their arrangement. Understanding space as the foundation of art's existence, Alfred Heth also moved away from the traditional arrangement of paintings side by side, not for fashionable effect, but as a necessary consequence of their interrelationships.
The connections that emerge from these interrelationships became important to him, also in his spatial installations, which often juxtapose paintings and sculptures. He began working in series. This artistic form corresponds both to the complexity of his thinking and feeling and to the multifaceted nature of the themes he explored. In a span of just two years, he created series such as "Family Tree," "Memories of a Clan," and "Encounter," comprising up to 24 individual works. In the direct, immediate process of artistic creation, the artist's creativity and ingenuity find their artistic expression.
For this reason, Alfred Heth finds engaging with materials extremely productive. For him, material is not merely a vehicle for creative ideas, but the very substance from which he creates his artistic world. He readily uses found objects, things he has already drawn, or "weathered material," as Heth himself calls it. Raw felt, corrugated cardboard, newspaper, wire mesh, bicycle tires, and linoleum from balconies all stimulate his imagination. And if he cannot find his means of expression, he becomes the inventor of entirely new materials, as for his latest series, "Transformation," which you can see here today in the Weitendorf Chapel. Heth's ambition to express his ideas adequately through the language of materials drives him to do so. In doing so, he creates new creative spaces for himself, because Heth does not accept the limitations imposed by materials. Limits, in whatever field, must be overcome in the artistic process. Again and again! And couldn't one also see the active and passive life principles, beginning and end, life and death, as thematically intertwined in the "Transformation" series?
But Heth doesn't want to create archetypes; rather, he seeks to capture life in a condensed form. To this end, he examines the past as intensely as he attentively observes the present, delving into art history and observing everyday occurrences. He is interested not in the changing appearance of things, but in processes and structures that trigger or hinder developments. From this he draws his optimism, which is not a wishful optimism, but is rooted in a perspective that always allows for the possibility of "transformation" of what already exists. Causality as a model of thought has not been replaced by modern chaos theory, but by a deep immersion in the intellectual connections that touch upon human becoming, being, and passing away. Heth inquires into the universal without neglecting the individuality of the individual. For only individuals, as Alfred Heth essentially said in a studio conversation, who think and feel differently, can engage in a productive exchange of ideas. Art has the power to evoke this response, for it reflects not only an aesthetic but also a human perspective, regardless of the artistic form chosen.
But now I would like to leave you to the art of Alfred Heth and wish you an enriching encounter with his work "Transformation." And to you, Mr. Heth, I extend my sincere thanks for the stimulating discussions in preparation for the exhibition.