Peter Roehr
28 Nov 2009 - 07 Mar 2010
Peter Roehr
o.T. (FO-82), 1966
Paper in plastic material
38 x 37,5 cm
MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main
o.T. (FO-82), 1966
Paper in plastic material
38 x 37,5 cm
MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt am Main
PETER ROEHR
Works from Frankfurt collections
November 28, 2009 - March 7, 2010
A cooperation between MMK Frankfurt/Main
and Städel Museum
When Frankfurt artist Peter Roehr (*1944) died in 1968 at the age of just 23, he left behind an oeuvre of great unity and palpable rigidity, which many artists of the 1960s and 1970s would cite. During his short lifetime Roehr‘s own efforts to find an audience for his work and that of his friends were largely in vain. It was only after his death that his art found the publicity it needed in order to achieve its full potential. Receptiveness for his work emerged, and the beginnings of that recognition, which his enormous importance for the development of art deserves.
The MMK collection boasts 28 works by Peter Roehr. Without exception his 600 or so works follow the idea of serial repetition. Everyday material he came across is used to create ever new photo-, text-, typo-, object-, sound and film montages that explore the concept of redundancy without running the risk of becoming redundant themselves. In the process Roehr forgoes both making a topical statement and an artistic handwriting. In his conceptional conciseness and rigor Roehr’s work was pioneering for later representatives of Concept Art. In subsequent years the principle of radical seriality recurs in the work of artists such as Hanne Darboven, Bernd and Hilla Becher or Thomas Bayrle not to mention American representatives of Concept Art and Minimalism, for example Carl Andre or On Kawara. His ideas are also being taken up again in current contemporary art.
However, Roehr’s strict formalism is much more varied and narrative than it appears at first sight – as is demonstrated by the exhibition Peter Roehr – Works from the Frankfurt collection.
A comprehensive publication on the artist’s work will accompany the exhibition.
Works from Frankfurt collections
November 28, 2009 - March 7, 2010
A cooperation between MMK Frankfurt/Main
and Städel Museum
When Frankfurt artist Peter Roehr (*1944) died in 1968 at the age of just 23, he left behind an oeuvre of great unity and palpable rigidity, which many artists of the 1960s and 1970s would cite. During his short lifetime Roehr‘s own efforts to find an audience for his work and that of his friends were largely in vain. It was only after his death that his art found the publicity it needed in order to achieve its full potential. Receptiveness for his work emerged, and the beginnings of that recognition, which his enormous importance for the development of art deserves.
The MMK collection boasts 28 works by Peter Roehr. Without exception his 600 or so works follow the idea of serial repetition. Everyday material he came across is used to create ever new photo-, text-, typo-, object-, sound and film montages that explore the concept of redundancy without running the risk of becoming redundant themselves. In the process Roehr forgoes both making a topical statement and an artistic handwriting. In his conceptional conciseness and rigor Roehr’s work was pioneering for later representatives of Concept Art. In subsequent years the principle of radical seriality recurs in the work of artists such as Hanne Darboven, Bernd and Hilla Becher or Thomas Bayrle not to mention American representatives of Concept Art and Minimalism, for example Carl Andre or On Kawara. His ideas are also being taken up again in current contemporary art.
However, Roehr’s strict formalism is much more varied and narrative than it appears at first sight – as is demonstrated by the exhibition Peter Roehr – Works from the Frankfurt collection.
A comprehensive publication on the artist’s work will accompany the exhibition.