Peter Klasen (1935) - Open Closed 

Peter KLASEN (1935)
CLOSED – OPEN 1985
lithography
68 x 48 cm illustration: 56 x 43 cm
Noted in pencil as H.C (hors commerce), dedicated at the bottom left and signed in pencil at the bottom right.

In very good condition


The German artist painter, photographer, and sculptor Peter Klasen was born in Lübeck in 1935.

Peter Klasen grew up in a family sensitive to the arts: his uncle Karl Christian Klasen, a student of Otto Dix, was an expressionist painter of landscapes and portraits, and his grandfather, a patron and collector, introduced him to the world of painters who were friends of the family. Peter Klasen thus began drawing and painting at a very young age. He learned lithography and airbrushing techniques. Reading Dostoevsky, Kafka, and Thomas Mann had a profound impact on him.

The industrial theme profoundly marks his work. In Klasen's paintings, elements such as pressure gauges, sheets of construction machinery, metal locks, truck and wagon tarps, and hydraulic circuit hoses can be found. His paintings also feature logos, numbers, and photographs taken from magazines or posters.

Master of Contrasts, he is fascinated by the hostility of the modern city and by representations of the body as a commodity.

The recent encounter between Estampe and Peter Klasen introduced the New Figuration or Narrative Figuration into the Lacan collection, thereby expanding its diversity. In the aquagravures by the German-born artist, his interest in our society is evident. It features themes such as the industrial, the image of the body, consumer objects, advertisements, and vehicle paintings, serving as a critical reflection of our social environment.

"Reality is nothing other than what I show you" - Peter Klasen