Solo exhibition at the Galerie Martin Mertens- 29.1.-12.3.2022
Having already presented Berlin-based artist Peer Kriesel at exhibitions in Berlin and Amsterdam since 2020, Galerie Martin Mertens in Berlin-Mitte is now showing this multifaceted work for the first time in a solo exhibition at the gallery.
The central medium of his work is drawing, but he also works with sculptures and objects. One of the groups of works comprises drawings/overpaintings on historical paper, such as land and sea maps and postcards, which in the past had certain functions and in some cases a high value for users. It is also about the change in the appreciation and valuation of printed paper as a communication and information medium. While nautical charts up to 19. and 20th century While they were extremely important and valuable in the past and represented very helpful sources of information, they have largely lost their function and thus their value in the age of GPS and Google. They only have a graphic value. By overpainting them, Kriesel gives them a new life and a new value in a different context. Kriesel draws inspiration for his drawings from the structures, markings, dates and colors of the historical image carriers and populates them with an unfathomable universe of grimaces, mythical creatures and figures drawn with the finest of strokes.
His entire oeuvre is strongly influenced by the age of digitalization. It is about values, the acceleration of communication, the change in perception and the inflationary consumption of art and media. Symbolically, the works of the map overpaintings deal with orientation in an age of an abundance of data, influences, impressions and messages that can no longer be grasped and categorized in an unstructured way.
The “Achim” group occupies a special position in Kriesel’s oeuvre. This series of works includes overpaintings of old postcards, documents and papers from the estate of his great-uncle Achim. They tell a personal but also forgotten story, and new figures and a contemporary world emerge in contrast on old, aesthetically exciting backgrounds.
In addition to old postcards from the family, the papers and documents also date from a period of captivity as prisoners of war during and after the Second World War. The short analog messages on field postcards attempted to convey emotions over weeks of insecure mail and stand in stark contrast to today’s Twitter or Messenger messages.
“90110”
Overpainting / Achim – watercolor/pigment ink on paper, 20.5 x 19 cm, 2020
We also show examples of his hidden object pictures, in which Kriesel immerses the viewer in a fairy-tale, almost fabulous world. At the same time, he confronts him with the absurd real world of data flow, overstimulation and information overload – a world full of violence and frustration, but also absurdities and humorously weird things. The viewer can lose themselves in his pictures and often view a multitude of different scenes. These “hidden object pictures” cannot be deciphered at first glance – so the viewer can always discover new themes and things. In addition to the geometric forms, Peer Kriesel attempts to bring order to the masses in the series of works Lines, Essences and The Blocks.
In the ME SO SMALL installations in combination with the wall or with objects such as rare car models, the artist supposedly becomes a vandal. He draws a grimace on the wall or the model with a gestural stroke. This action devalues or even damages the valuable object on the one hand, but at the same time enhances it and elevates it to the status of an art object. This contradiction is particularly appealing to the artist, because at a time when the production and consumption of creative works or “just” beautiful things is becoming almost inflationary, general values are also shifting. In the interaction with the wall on site, Kriesel counters the fast-moving times with a fixed installation.
Gallery Martin Mertens
Linienstraße 148
10115 Berlin
Phone: +49.30.440.433.50