Wolfgang Laib Crossing the River

Wolfgang Laib (born 1950, Germany) is considered to be one of the most important artists of today. His work is characterised by a profound relationship with nature and a declared belief in simplicity. At the same time eastern philosophies from India have shaped his life and his artistic practice since the 1970s. Until today the artist concentrates on just a few cyclical groups of work.

Ever since his journeys to India as a young man the idea inspired him to see humans as part of a larger whole. He also follows this way of life in his art. Thereby the artist tracks down the universal, the eternal and works with natural materials such as pollen, rice, milk or bees wax.

At the Bündner Kunstmuseum, he is realizing a large room-sized installation made of thousands of rice mountains. As an important foodstuff rice symbolizes vitality and is fundamental for our earthly existence. The process of creating this work of art is revealed in the book and is related to a conversation between Wolfgang Laib and the internationally renowned Swiss architect Peter Zumthor. With this book, Wolfgang Laib reveals the spiritual dimension of art and leads us directly to the sources of his poetics.