Deconstructing Abstraction Painting

Peter Vahlefeld’s conceptual approach to painting is how advertising and branding influence visual culture. To say that his paintings are mixed media is an understatement. It’s like the difference between a drunk and a sommelier. His time-consuming technique is rich and complex, combining painting, printing and digital manipulation. These artworks built up from several layers, feature different kinds of paints, prints, fabrics, powdered pigments, acrylic and oil paint, different mediums, varnishes, and more. Materials have their own souls—their own chemical properties, gravities, and past lives. Immersion in the process of making is therefore essential, and involves layering, overpainting, erasing and reconstructing the image through physical and digital means. The texture of his paintings is dynamic, with areas of thick impasto of oil paint juxtaposed against flat printed sections, that challenge the boundaries between abstraction and representation. The strongest aspects of his portfolio is Peter's ability to deconstruct and reconstruct imagery, acting like a narrator, and creating a dialogue between traditional painting and contemporary media culture. It is like a game that consists of changing the code. By reinterpreting motifs from marketing campaigns for museums, galleries, auction houses and museum gift shops, he transforms commercial objects back into art. This conceptual depth, combined with expressive, layered compositions, makes his paintings particularly strong! Finding inspiration in the works of artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Sigmar Polke, Gerhard Richter, Julian Schnabel and Albert Oehlen, who have also explored layering, overpainting, and media manipulation, Peter Vahlefeld is blending physical and digital techniques, pushing the boundaries between painting and media to open new perspectives and perceptions. Peter Vahlefeld was born in Tokyo, Japan and grew up in Hong Kong and Hamburg. He earned a BFA (Hons) in Fine Arts at Parsons School of Design. Peter has participated in a variety of solo exhibitions, art fairs (art karlsruhe), and venues such as Neumeister Fine Art Auctioneers (Munich), Sotheby's (Vienna), Fritz Hansen (Denmark), Allianz Art Collection and Poliform Interior Design. His work can be found in private and corporate collections throughout Europe, the United States and East Asia. Peter Vahlefeld was featured on the German television channel ZDF, and currently has a studio in Berlin and Munich.