Kunsthalle Düsseldorf

Peter Land

21 Apr - 20 May 2012

© Peter Land
Springtime, 2010
Painted fiberglass, fabric, metal, wood and rubble, variable dimensions variable
Courtesy Galleri Nicolai Wallner
PETER LAND
Spring­Time
curated by Elodie Evers
21 April – 20 May, 2012

A two-faced­ness oscil­la­ting bet­ween tra­ge­dy and co­me­dy tra­ver­ses the en­t­i­re oeu­vre of Pe­ter Land (*1966). Whi­le his works pro­vo­ke laugh­ter at first sight, they are re­vea­led upon clo­ser ex­ami­na­ti­on to be in­suf­fe­ra­ble trans­gres­si­ons in the re­alm of “nor­ma­li­ty.” Land
gained re­co­gni­ti­on in the mid 1990s wi­th his sim­ply pro­du­ced vi­de­os – do­cu­men­ta­ti­ons of per­so­nal failu­re and gro­tes­que mea­ningless­ness in which the ar­tist is se­en tum­bling down an end­less flight of stair, re­pea­ted­ly fal­ling off a lad­der whi­le pain­ting or cra­shing to the floor whi­le do­ing a drun­ken strip­tease to catchy dis­co hits. The Kunst­hal­le pres­ents a selec­tion of Land’s ear­ly films and re­cent
in­stal­la­ti­ons in a par­cour re­mi­nis­cent of Le­wis Car­roll’s Ali­ce in Won­der­land: Dif­fe­rent-si­zed doors that lead now­he­re, door­knobs that do not work, and the ep­ony­mous pie­ce “Spring­time,” which com­pri­ses a pi­le of de­bris from which an arm pro­tru­des. The bo­un­da­ries bet­ween child­ren’s ga­mes and night­ma­res are flu­id in Pe­ter Land’s work.

A to­tal of 100 mul­ti­ples from the edi­ti­on “The Other Op­ti­on” by Pe­ter Land can be purcha­sed on the oc­ca­si­on of the ex­hi­bi­ti­on.
 

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