Hans-Peter Feldmann. Art Exhibition.
The "Hans-Peter Feldmann. Art Exhibition" at the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf is a significant retrospective dedicated to the work of the influential German artist (1941–2023). Spanning his 60-year career, the exhibition is a comprehensive survey featuring around 80 works, including early photographs from the 1970s, sculptures made from everyday objects, painted-over paintings, and expansive installations. The presentation, which occupies ten rooms of the museum, is notable as the first major exhibition following Feldmann's death in May 2023, and it holds the special distinction of being the final museum show he was actively involved in planning, with the title itself coming directly from the artist.
Feldmann's oeuvre consistently revolves around fundamental questions: What is art? Where do its boundaries lie? The exhibition powerfully illustrates his rejection of the traditional distinction between "art" and "everyday life," showcasing how he elevated the seemingly banal and incidental to the realm of high art. Recurring themes throughout his work include social clichés, voyeurism, and consumerism, often approached with a direct, playful, and humorous sensibility. Key works on display highlight his artistic strategies of appropriation, alienation, and recontextualization, inviting viewers to re-examine familiar objects and images from a new perspective.
A central thread of the exhibition is Feldmann's profound fascination with visual imagery and the photographic medium. His artistic practice, which he described as a three-stage process of cutting out, collecting, and gluing, began with his archive of found photographs, postcards, and newspaper clippings. Notable works that embody this approach include his "Zeitserien" (Time Series), which document simple, everyday moments in sequence, and his collection of 156 international newspaper front pages from September 12, 2001, which collectively explore the impact of mass media and the power of image-text combinations in shaping public perception.
Beyond the formal presentation of works, the exhibition maintains Feldmann's desire to break with institutional conventions and engage a broad audience. It features interactive and participatory elements, such as his large installation "Schattenspiel" (Shadow Play, 2002), where shadows of rotating toys and found objects are fantastically distorted, and a "Feldmann Shelf" (or "Swap Shelf") where visitors can engage with his ethos of value and exchange. The retrospective ultimately celebrates Feldmann's enduring legacy as an artist who humorously and radically questioned the mechanisms of the art world and the formation of taste, proving the continuing relevance of his playful, anti-establishment spirit.
Hans-Peter Feldmann. Art Exhibition.
The "Hans-Peter Feldmann. Art Exhibition" at the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf is a significant retrospective dedicated to the work of the influential German artist (1941–2023). Spanning his 60-year career, the exhibition is a comprehensive survey featuring around 80 works, including early photographs from the 1970s, sculptures made from everyday objects, painted-over paintings, and expansive installations. The presentation, which occupies ten rooms of the museum, is notable as the first major exhibition following Feldmann's death in May 2023, and it holds the special distinction of being the final museum show he was actively involved in planning, with the title itself coming directly from the artist.
Feldmann's oeuvre consistently revolves around fundamental questions: What is art? Where do its boundaries lie? The exhibition powerfully illustrates his rejection of the traditional distinction between "art" and "everyday life," showcasing how he elevated the seemingly banal and incidental to the realm of high art. Recurring themes throughout his work include social clichés, voyeurism, and consumerism, often approached with a direct, playful, and humorous sensibility. Key works on display highlight his artistic strategies of appropriation, alienation, and recontextualization, inviting viewers to re-examine familiar objects and images from a new perspective.
A central thread of the exhibition is Feldmann's profound fascination with visual imagery and the photographic medium. His artistic practice, which he described as a three-stage process of cutting out, collecting, and gluing, began with his archive of found photographs, postcards, and newspaper clippings. Notable works that embody this approach include his "Zeitserien" (Time Series), which document simple, everyday moments in sequence, and his collection of 156 international newspaper front pages from September 12, 2001, which collectively explore the impact of mass media and the power of image-text combinations in shaping public perception.
Beyond the formal presentation of works, the exhibition maintains Feldmann's desire to break with institutional conventions and engage a broad audience. It features interactive and participatory elements, such as his large installation "Schattenspiel" (Shadow Play, 2002), where shadows of rotating toys and found objects are fantastically distorted, and a "Feldmann Shelf" (or "Swap Shelf") where visitors can engage with his ethos of value and exchange. The retrospective ultimately celebrates Feldmann's enduring legacy as an artist who humorously and radically questioned the mechanisms of the art world and the formation of taste, proving the continuing relevance of his playful, anti-establishment spirit.