Peter Zimmermann (born 1956 in Freiburg im Breisgau) is a German painter, object artist and former university professor.
Life Peter Zimmermann studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart from 1978 to 1983 and has since participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums in Germany and abroad. He works as a painter and object artist. From 2002 to 2007, he was a professor at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.
Work Zimmermann's works are highly diverse. At the end of the 1980s, he created "Book Cover Paintings", in which he transferred the titles of atlases, art books, travel guides and dictionaries onto canvas using epoxy resin. In his cardboard objects, he worked with spatial distortions of text, thereby questioning the relationship between text and image. The colourful motifs of his epoxy resin paintings are based on digital source material, such as photographs, film stills or diagrams, which he distorts using graphical algorithms and transfers onto canvas in numerous transparent layers of epoxy resin. Since 1993, Zimmermann has regarded the computer as a conceptual medium through which he explores the manipulability of digital images and their changing relationship to reality and representation. Since 2014, he has increasingly realised this conceptual approach through the medium of oil painting.
Central to his work are both the relationship between the original and its representation and an engagement with the concept of the surface.
Zimmermann's works are held in numerous private and public collections, including the Bundeskunstsammlung, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The artist lives and works in Cologne.
Exhibitions Solo exhibitions (selection) 2023: Nunu Fine Art, New York Stickers, Dirimart, Istanbul Vis-à-Vis, Kienbaum, Cologne 2022: Stickerwand, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Cologne 2021: layer on layer, Nosbaum Reding, Luxembourg Meta Pictures, Nunu Fine Art, Taipei Halle 9 / Techne Sphere, Leipzig 2020: sway, Galerie Nagel Draxler, Berlin 2019: abstractness, Leopold Hoesch Museum, Düren paint it, Galerie Stadt Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen 2018: One, two, four, Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld art berlin 2018, One-Person-Show, Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie 2016: Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg Playlist, Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld Museum gegenstandsfreier Kunst, Otterndorf 2015: CMYK, Dirimart, Istanbul Nunu Fine Arts, Taipei 2014: sur le motif, Galerie Perrotin, Paris 2013: Undertones, Wasserman Projects, Detroit Johyun Gallery, Busan, Korea crystal & fruits, Galerie Michael Janssen, Singapore 2012: Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbon drop, Galerie Perrotin, Hong Kong 2011: Panorama, Kunstforum and Kunstverein Schwäbisch Hall Galerie MaxWeberSixFriedrich, Munich 2009: Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten, Klagenfurt Galerie Six Friedrich Lisa Ungar, Munich 2008: currents, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio 2007/2008: wheel, Kunsthalle Nürnberg 2006: Capas de gelatina / Layers of jelly, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga 2004: Before After, Delaware Center of Contemporary Art, Delaware 2003: x-pollination, with Claus Carstensen, Esbjerg Kunstmuseum, Denmark 2002: Zipp, Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel 2001: Flow, Kunstverein Heilbronn Kunsthalle Erfurt, Erfurt 2000: Galerie SixFriedrichLisaUngar, Munich 1998: Eigentlich könnte alles auch anders sein, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne Kisten & Plakate, Städtische Galerie Donaueschingen 1997: Otto-Dix-Haus, Gera 1996: Remixes, Icebox, Athens Öffentlich / Privat (with Thomas Locher), Kunstraum der Universität Lüneburg and Künstlerhaus Stuttgart 1995: Galerie Six Friedrich, Munich 1992: Kunstverein Münster
Group exhibitions (selection) 2023: Eruption, Anima Gallery, Doha Bis die Bude brummt, Museum für Neue Kunst, Freiburg 2022: What I like!, Galerie Stadt Sindelfingen Bibliomania – Das Buch in der Kunst, Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders, Bergisch Gladbach Grenzenlos. Einblicke in eine unbekannte Privatsammlung, Kunsthaus Zofingen 2020: Vestige and Eternity, Nunu Fine Art, Taipei 2019: KUNST#quer#Kopf, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig A misura d’uomo – Tribute to Leonardo, Luca Tommasi Arte Contemporanea, Milan 2018: Color-aid, Wasserman Projects, Detroit 2017: Resonanzen. 40 Jahre Kunststiftung Baden-Württemberg, ZKM, Karlsruhe 2016: Gaa Gallery, Provincetown 2013: To Open Eyes – Kunst und Textil vom Bauhaus bis heute, Kunsthalle Bielefeld Happy Birthday, Galerie Perrotin / 25 Years, Tripostal, Lille 2012: The slide show, FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand 2011: Farbe im Fluss, Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen Hirschfaktor "Die Kunst des Zitierens", ZKM, Karlsruhe 2009: Reloaded, Kunstmuseum Bonn Extended, ZKM, Karlsruhe 2008: There is Desire left (Knock, knock), works from the Mondstudio collection, Museum Wiesbaden Vertrautes Terrain. Aktuelle Kunst in & über Deutschland – collector's choice, ZKM, Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe 2007: Moscow Biennale 2006: Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen 2005: Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Rupertinum 2004: Thomas Locher, Wilhelm Mundt, Peter Zimmermann, Galerie Six Friedrich Lisa Ungar, Munich 2003: Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart Morsbroich Museum, Leverkusen 2002: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt Deichtorhallen, Hamburg
Bibliography Books and catalogues Jochen and Laura Kienbaum: Peter Zimmermann, swipe, Kienbaum Artists' Book, Snoeck, 2023. Peter Zimmermann: eins zu eins, Salon Verlag, Cologne, 2021. Leopold-Hoesch-Museum, Düren: Peter Zimmermann, abstractness, Edition Cantz, Düren, 2020. Galerie Stadt Sindelfingen: Peter Zimmermann, paint it, Sindelfingen, 2019. Samuelis Baumgarte Galerie: Peter Zimmermann, one two four, Bielefeld, 2018. Museum gegenstandsfreier Kunst, Otterndorf: Peter Zimmermann, Pool, Otterndorf, 2017. Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg: Peter Zimmermann – Schule von Freiburg. (German and English), SNOECK, Freiburg, 2016. Galerie Perrotin: Peter Zimmermann. (English and Chinese), Damiani editore, Paris, 2013. Andrea Madesta: Peter Zimmermann – Works since 1987 (German, English and French), SNOECK, Cologne, 2009. Ellen Seifermann (ed.): Peter Zimmermann. wheel. (German and English). Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nuremberg, 2007. Hubertus Butin: Peter Zimmermann. Painting. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, 2007. Peter Zimmermann: Epoxiology. (German, English and French). König, Cologne, 2006. Stephan Berg: Peter Zimmermann. capas de gelatina. (English and Spanish). Centro de Arte, Málaga, 2006. Jens Schröter: Peter Zimmermann. Kunsthalle Erfurt, Erfurt, 2001 Tom Holert: Peter Zimmermann. Flow. König, Cologne, 2001. Peter Zimmermann: Skandal: Kunst. Springer, Vienna and New York, 2000. Peter Zimmermann: Eigentlich könnte alles auch anders sein. König, Cologne, 1998.
Secondary literature Harald Uhr: "Painting vs. Plasmaflachbildschirm – Ein Portrait von Harald Uhr", Artblog Cologne, 28 July 2015 Margrit Brehm: The Reflection of Surfaces. Die Reflexion der Oberflächen. La réflexion des surfaces. In: Peter Zimmermann. Epoxiology. Walther König, Cologne, 2007. Margit Zuckriegl: Peter Zimmermann. Die Gedanken der Bilder. The thoughts of pictures. In: Vom Bild zum Bild. Metamorphose. Museum der Moderne Salzburg, Rupertinum, Salzburg, 2005, pp. 42–47 Ralf Christofori: Kopfsprung in den Signalfluß. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 30 August 2001 Hans-Jürgen August: Erregung kollektiven Lustgefühls. In: Wiener Zeitung, 1 December 2001 Astrid Wege: Peter Zimmermann. In: Artis, December 1996 Franz Kotteder: Heimwerkers Alptraum. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 7 March 1996
References
External links
Official website Images of Peter Zimmermann