The artist bridges the ostensible divide between art and the everyday, and bathes things he finds in the banal world of the everyday, from amateur photos, toys and general bric-a-brac, in his own personal, poetic light. His solo exhibition features his major series, installations, sculptures and paintings.
The exhibition opening in the Deichtorhallen Hamburg on March 1, 2013 is dedicated to the major series,
installations, sculptures and paintings of Hans-Peter Feldmann. Born in Düsseldorf in 1941, the artist shot
to fame in the early 1970s with his encyclopedic photographic series, the material for which he found in
the grand fund of everyday images. Feldmann bridges the ostensible divide between art and the
everyday, and bathes things he finds in the banal world of the everyday, from amateur photos, toys and
general bric-a-brac, in his own personal, poetic light. His works have been exhibited, in the Guggenheim
in New York, at the Documenta and the Venice Biennale to name but a few venues. He has come to
occupy the high echelons of the German art world, joining Gerhard Richter and Sigmar Polke as some of
the country’s most famous artists, exerting a truly palpable influence on the subsequent generation of
artists.
Even today, Feldmann’s creations have lost none of their seductive power, facility or subtle humor. In his
works he touches upon childish, erotic yet nonetheless political cosmos, each an admixture of ready-
made and artistic intervention. Examples range from the installation of a phantasmal shadow play, to the
purses he bought from women on the street for EUR 500 a piece, whose contents he then exhibited in an
art show; and from the artistic “Funkturm” installation, which was part of an exhibition on Deichtorplatz;
to Michelangelo’s “David”, nine meters tall and painted in jarringly bright colors: The show presents
everything that makes Feldmann’s work so special.
Hans-Peter Feldmann “finds” his works in the pictorial worlds of ordinary, everyday life, in commonplace
media such as TV, magazines or kitschy postcard series. A group of footballers from HSV Hamburg are,
for example, juxtaposed with bunches of strawberries or postage stamps. In a series dealing with the
events of 9/11, he compiled the front pages of 300 international newspapers from the following day.
While in “100 years” he creates a unique view of a century free of conventional historiography, bringing
together a collection of portraits depicting people of varying ages from month-old babies to
centenarians.
Classical paintings such as those by Modigliani are subjected to a number of small, interventions inviting
the beholder to take a closer look, yanking high art down from its pedestal and subverting the belief in
the beauty of art and the representative. For instance, Feldmann has erased ships from seascapes, added
depictions of notable people to classical portraits, painted red noses on dollar bills, and given Courbet’s
nude a tan line from sunbathing in her bikini. Many of the artist’s works playfully challenge the dream of
an ideal world, which forms the foundations of western artistic tradition.
Hans-Peter Feldmann certainly has a few tricks up his sleeve for the exhibition in Hamburg. The visitors
will be greeted by an upside-down car placed right at the center of the parking lot surrounded by a sea of
parked cars, the right way up; the artist has also installed a painting station for children in the exhibition
foyer.
The exhibition has been arranged in collaboration with the Serpentine Gallery, London and the Bawag
Foundation in Vienna.
CATALOG
A catalog (English/German) has been published by the Walther König publishing house to accompany
the exhibition. The publication features introductory essays by Julia Peyton-Jones & Hans Ulrich Obrist,
Brigitte Huck, and Dirk Luckow as well as an interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist and a dialog with Helena
Tatay. 232 pages. Price: EUR 29.80
EDITIONS
Hans-Peter Feldmann has created two unlimited special editions for the Deichtorhallen: One-dollar note
with a red nose, EUR 800, incl. 7% VAT, and two photos in an A4 folder, EUR 960, plus 19% VAT.
PRESS MATERIAL
Press images and texts are available for download from our website at www.deichtorhallen.de/presse.
We are also happy to supply materials on an individual basis.
Contact: Angelika Leu-Barthel, tel. + 49 -40-32-103-250, presse@deichtorhallen.de
ACCOMPANYING PROGRAM
We have prepared a program of events to accompany the exhibition featuring special tours, workshops
and school vacation courses entitled “Images instead of words”, “Image search” and “Everyday humor”
for children and young visitors.
Image: Copyright: VG BILD-KUNST, Bonn. Courtesy Hans-Peter Feldmann
Head of Communications
Angelika Leu-Barthel
Tel. +49 (0)40 32103-250
leu-barthel(at)deichtorhallen.de
Trainee Communications
Matthias Schönebäumer
Tel. +49 (0)40 32103-261
schoenebaeumer(at)deichtorhallen.de
PRESS CONFERENCE
Thursday, February 28, at 11 a.m. with Dirk Luckow (Artistic Director of Deichtorhallen) and Hans-Peter
Feldmann.
OPENING
Thursday, February 28, at 7.30 p.m. With speeches by Dirk Luckow and Dominik Wichmann, Editor-in-
Chief stern. Hans-Peter Feldmann will be in attendance.
Deichtorhallen Hamburg
Deichtorstr. 1-2, - 20095 Hamburg
OPENING TIMES
Tuesday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
On the first Thursday of each month 11 a.m. – 9p.m.
PUBLIC TOURS
Every Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m.
ADMISSION
Regular: 9 Euro
Reduction*: 6 Euro
Tuesday card: 4,50 Euro (from 16 p.m.)
Children+ (max. 2 grown-ups with children under 18 years): 14 Euro
Children and people under years: admission is free
With reservation: For pupils in groups under 18 years admission is free (max. 2 accompanying persons)
With reservation: Groups starting at 8 Pers.: 5 Euro/Person; Discount 3 Euro/Person
HH Card: 6 Euro
Highflyer-Costumers: 4,50 Euro
Kunstmeilenpass: 29 Euro, Reduction* 15 Euro, mit HH Card 25 Euro (see below)
*Reduction for unemployed persons, recipient of Hartz IV, pupils over 18 years of age, students and disabled persons with handicapped ID.