Peter Zimmermann
18 Oct - 08 Dec 2006
PETER ZIMMERMANN
Peter Zimmermann was born in Frieburg in 1956. He studied at the Stuttgart KunstakademieSttutgart; now he lives and works in Cologne. Zimmermann is considered as one of the most remarkable abstract painters in the international contemporary scene, his works have been in solo shows at a great number of art centres, galleries and museums in Europe, the USA and South America. Institutions and museums in Germany, Austria and the USA have Zimmermann works in their collections.
The first impressions of Peter Zimmermann's latest works of art create a conventional effect almost as if they were mere decorative works. This is not only due to their format and framing but also to the general impression they make.
These pictures are moulded or rather 'set in layers' by epoxy resin which acts as a solution for the various dyes and pigments. As a result of this process, which involves a costly production method, once again Zimmermann's use of epoxy resin proves to be highly significant. "After a certain point, the picture paints itself. You are no longer in control. You can neither stop no go back. Epoxy resin has such a long flow limit before setting that the pictures can look quite different the morning after from the evening before". His works only appear to be picturesque on the surface. Their production has nothing to do with the spontaneous expression of a free, self-creating individual; (they are almost the absolute contrary to Pollock's Action Painting, for example). What is more, they are the final outcome of a complex, technological process.
The latest pictures consist of layers, one epoxy resin layer on top of another, beautifully done. This layering operation or sedimentation process, which was also a theme in abstract expressionism, though quite different from Zimmermann's, is itself a metaphor for the structure of memory, which in turn cannot be reduced to the mere reproduction of whatever has been. One layer conceals the next. The layer below is still visible as something different on account of the coloration. In contrast to digital media, from which the artist has gleaned his pictorial data, the painted version is rendered permanent and inextinguishable.
© Peter Zimmermann
Air, 2006
Exposy on canvas
100 x 350 cm.
Peter Zimmermann was born in Frieburg in 1956. He studied at the Stuttgart KunstakademieSttutgart; now he lives and works in Cologne. Zimmermann is considered as one of the most remarkable abstract painters in the international contemporary scene, his works have been in solo shows at a great number of art centres, galleries and museums in Europe, the USA and South America. Institutions and museums in Germany, Austria and the USA have Zimmermann works in their collections.
The first impressions of Peter Zimmermann's latest works of art create a conventional effect almost as if they were mere decorative works. This is not only due to their format and framing but also to the general impression they make.
These pictures are moulded or rather 'set in layers' by epoxy resin which acts as a solution for the various dyes and pigments. As a result of this process, which involves a costly production method, once again Zimmermann's use of epoxy resin proves to be highly significant. "After a certain point, the picture paints itself. You are no longer in control. You can neither stop no go back. Epoxy resin has such a long flow limit before setting that the pictures can look quite different the morning after from the evening before". His works only appear to be picturesque on the surface. Their production has nothing to do with the spontaneous expression of a free, self-creating individual; (they are almost the absolute contrary to Pollock's Action Painting, for example). What is more, they are the final outcome of a complex, technological process.
The latest pictures consist of layers, one epoxy resin layer on top of another, beautifully done. This layering operation or sedimentation process, which was also a theme in abstract expressionism, though quite different from Zimmermann's, is itself a metaphor for the structure of memory, which in turn cannot be reduced to the mere reproduction of whatever has been. One layer conceals the next. The layer below is still visible as something different on account of the coloration. In contrast to digital media, from which the artist has gleaned his pictorial data, the painted version is rendered permanent and inextinguishable.
© Peter Zimmermann
Air, 2006
Exposy on canvas
100 x 350 cm.