Feldmann NEU.key

HANS-PETER FELDMANN
H
ans-Peter Feldmann is considered one of the main figures of european conceptual art. His
approach to art-making is one of collecting, ordering and re-presenting elements of the visual
culture. He started in the 1960s, producing small handmade books showing isolated
reproductions from a certain type, shoes for instance, without captions. Since then, he has kept on
investigating the influence of these visual signals on our way to perceive. Composing images and objects
into archives, photographs, installations and sculptures, he creates uncanny compositions and unexpected
new contexts. In many ways, his works are defined by daily life and the intimacy of private moments,
exploring and unveiling beauty within the everyday landscape.
I am not interested in the highpoints of life. Only 5 minutes of everyday are interesting, I want to show the rest,
normal life. Hans-Peter Feldmann
His creative process consists in compulsively collecting. Feldmann has been accumulating all sorts of
things throughout his career, such as oil paintings, mainly portraits and landscapes, but also silver spoons,
newspapers, stamps, shoes, hats, postcards, dollar notes… as well as a large variety of photographs
representing flowers, books, women clothes, shoes, or handbags, paintings, legs, lips, strawberries,
celebrities, landscapes, crossroads, planes, pigs, chairs, undone beds, birds, car interiors, etc. Feldmann’s
interests span pop culture, sociology, art history, politics, sciences… all these fields being of equal
importance within his work.
Bypassing customs such as edition, signature, date, or title for his works, Feldmann's approach reveals
that the market rules are extraneous to the actual artworks. From 1975 until 2015, he and his wife ran a
store (Laden in German) in central Düsseldorf. The Laden was the place to buy items you could not find
anywhere else, such as nautical equipment, cameras, vintage toys, collectibles, antiques, photographs,
kitsches, paintings, etc. In 1979, the business was so flourishing that Feldmann withdrew from the art
world for a decade in order to focus on the shop. After forty years, the Laden was closed and Feldmann
transformed its whole inventory into an artwork, now entrusted to the Lenbachhaus in Munich.
Short biography
Hans-Peter Feldmann was born 1941 in Düsseldorf, where he still lives and works. His work has been
exhibited widely, but the artist prefers no to publish any biography.
His works are present in major public collections, such as Museum of Modern Art, New York, Ludwig
Museum, Cologne, Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, Migros Museum, Zurich, Hirshhorn Museum and
Sculpture Garden, Washington, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre
Pompidou, Paris, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid.
Selected publications
Catalogue, Serpentine Gallery, ed. by Helena Tatay, Koenig Books, London, 2012
Another Book, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Koenig Books, London, 2010
Book #9, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne, 2007
272 Pages, Fundació Antoni Tapiés, ed. by Helena Tatay, 2002
Exhibition views
C/O Berlin
Berlin, 2016
Exhibition views
C/O Berlin
Berlin, 2016
Exhibition views
C/O Berlin
Berlin, 2016
Exhibition views
Mehdi Chouakri
Berlin, 2015
Exhibition views
Mehdi Chouakri
Berlin, 2015
Exhibition views
Mehdi Chouakri
Berlin, 2015
Exhibition views
Lehnbachhaus
Munich, 2015
Exhibition view
K21
Düsseldorf, 2015
Exhibition views
Take me I’m Yours
La Monnaie de Paris
Paris, 2015
Exhibition view
Unlimited
Basel, 2015
Exhibition views
Deichtorhallen
Hamburg, 2013
Exhibition views
Deichtorhallen
Hamburg, 2013
Exhibition view
Deichtorhallen
Hamburg, 2013
Exhibition views
Mehdi Chouakri
Berlin, 2013
Exhibition views
Mehdi Chouakri
Berlin, 2013
Exhibition views
Serpentine Gallery
London, 2012
Exhibition views
Serpentine Gallery
London, 2012
Exhibition views
Serpentine Gallery
London, 2012
Exhibition views
Bass Museum of Art
Miami Beach, 2012
Exhibition view
Bass Museum of Art
Miami Beach, 2012
Exhibition view
Neue Nationalgalerie
Berlin, 2012
Exhibition views
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
New York, 2011
Exhibition views
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf, 2010
Exhibition views
Mehdi Chouakri
Berlin, 2010
Exhibition views
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia
Madrid, 2010
Exhibition views
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia
Madrid, 2010
Exhibition view
Simon Lee Gallery
London, 2008
Exhibition views
Sprengel Museum
Hannover, 2007
Exhibition views
Hamburger Bahnhof
Berlin, 2006
Exhibition views
Hamburger Bahnhof
Berlin, 2006
Exhibition views
Mehdi Chouakri
Berlin, 2006
Exhibition views
Kunsthalle Kiel
Kiel, 2005
Exhibition view
Mehdi Chouakri
Berlin, 2002