PETER BÖHNISCH – Ice in the Sun

“Ice in the Sun” is the first institutional solo exhibition of the German artist Peter Böhnisch in Europe outside his home country. From 25 January 2013, Galeria Arsenal in Bialystok, Poland, shows his recent works on canvas as well as earlier drawings. Figurative representations and cleverly chosen materials live in a visionary symbiosis in Peter Böhnisch’s work. While his early drawings captivate with the lightness of colour applied with chalk pastels, the most striking element of his more recent paintings are round wax inserts in which the artist creates elaborate etchings. Stylised figures and simplified forms complement the detail of images and the richness of colours and combinations of materials. The scenes in the pictures are fictitious, the connections remain enigmatic but suggestive of the influence of Western and Far Eastern mysticism. The starting point of the pictures is the possibility of a cosmic harmony: the title of the exhibition also hints at changing physical states and the elementary origin as a uniform whole. The opposition between and the simultaneity of transformation and presence create the thematic tension that binds together Peter Böhnisch’s pictures. 

Peter Böhnisch was born in Waiblingen, Germany, in 1977. He lives and works in Berlin. He studied with Andreas Slominski and Anselm Reyle at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Karlsruhe. His works have been presented at many individual and group exhibitions, among others at the Städtischen Galerie in Waldkraiburg, the Kunsthalle in Bremerhaven, the Falckenberg Collection in Hamburg, the Musée d´Art Contemporain in Bordeaux and the Gallery of the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies at Columbia University, New York. In 2011, Peter Böhnisch was awarded a residence scholarship of the Silvia and Helmut Wickleder Foundation in Leinzell. He is represented by the gallery Contemporary Fine Arts in Berlin and his works are in international private collections and museums.