Peter Böhnisch - Galerie Michael Haas

Peter Böhnisch

*1977 Waiblingen – lives in Berlin

Biography

“The human being, that strange creature: With its feet in the mud, its head in the stars.”

Else Lasker-Schüler

With his sometimes monumental sand paintings, Peter Böhnisch explores the possibilities of painting beyond oil paint and canvas. By setting enigmatic scenes in dialogue with portraits, including those of fictitious space travellers, the artist combines traditional pictorial themes with modern elements. His balanced composition of meaningfulness and humour keeps the pictures in equilibrium.

The focus is always on the use of sand, which Böhnisch sometimes uses as a plastic, relief-like background and at other times as a direct painting medium. The beauty of the motifs often contrasts with the coarseness of the surface. Böhnisch refers to dreams and stories, thus documenting visions and thoughts. He examines various inner and outer states in order to assemble individual considerations into new ideas.

After studying at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe with Anselm Reyle and Andreas Slominski, he initially devoted himself to large-format drawings, which were increasingly replaced by tempera, wax crayon, pastels or acrylics on canvas.