The work ‘Hommage an die struktur’ (A tribute to the structure) belongs to the series of works produced by the artist at the start of the 1960s when he joined the Dutch ‘Nul’ art group.

Here, 72 square wooden blocks are arranged alternately according to a grid of 12 columns x 12 rows.

The repetition of a neutral unit enables the composition to be examined consistently. The alternation between filled and empty spaces produces an interplay of light which changes according to where the spectator moves.

Taken together it thus perfectly meets the principles developed by the Nul Group which Herman de Vries joined in 1959: single-coloured works, repetition, seriality and direct use of the material.

Herman de vries is born in 1931 in Alkmaar (Pays-Bas). He Lives and works in Eschenau in Germany

“I work with nature because it is our primary reality (…)."

Herman de vries was educated at the Netherlands’ National School of Horticulture before starting his artistic endeavours in 1953. He developed an informal style of painting inspired by nature, then created black-and-white paintings where the white and the void play a critical role. Within his compositions, he uses simple, modular components and uses probability as an organisational method which allows him to avoid a strictly geometric style.

Herman de vries made several trips to India and the Orient and worked from 1970 onwards in search of new relationships with nature, convinced that life, art and science were linked. He used his knowledge of plants, their differences, and their medicinal, nutritional or creative properties to serve his art.

His work then took on several forms; collages, drawings, photographs, and sculptures produced from materials collected in nature during walks or trips. Stones, soil, wood, and leaves are regularly used, which is a way for the artist to show his admiration for nature, which he continues to contemplate on a daily basis. The features can be displayed in the form of collections - such as a herbarium - or in a more chaotic way when the artist chooses to leave things to chance.

Breaking away from Western society, which sets nature and civilisation against each other, the artist is reteaching us to see nature - its richness, its beauty, and its quality of being universal. Nature is not a given for man, man is a part of it and depends upon it. A source of diversity, nature holds our roots within it, and it unlocks the imaginary world of design and leads us to fulfilment.

The work by Herman de Vries is not seeking definitive beauty but rather it highlights biodiversity without dramatic effects. The artist wants to emphasise the aesthetic value of nature: “I only do quotes from nature”.

A demonstration of this was the gigantic project that he set about doing in 1984, consisting of collecting 2000 specimens of plants used for their medicinal or spiritual properties from all over the world. He also collected samples of soil from around the world with which he composed works on paper and expanded his Earth museum. By doing this, he showed that at two opposite points of the globe, the colour of the earth can be the same and the soil of one region can sometimes contain an unlimited array of colours.

Refusing any kind of hierarchy in his thought process, Herman de Vries has withdrawn capital letters from his vocabulary since 1956.