Peter Zimmermann

Peter Zimmermann (born 1956 in Freiburg im Breisgau) is a German painter, sculptor, object artist and university professor.
Life and education
Peter Zimmermann studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart from 1978 to 1983. Since then he has taken part in numerous solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums both within Germany and abroad. He works as a painter, sculptor and object artist. He was a professor at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne between 2002 and 2007.
Work
Zimmermann's work is extremely diverse. At the end of the 1980s he created his "Book Cover Paintings," in which the covers and titles of atlases, art books, travel guides and dictionaries were represented on canvas using epoxy. Through his cardboard objects he works with the spatial distortion of the written word and thus questions the relationship between text and image. The colourful motives in his epoxy resin images arise from digital templates, such as photos, film stills or diagrams, which he distorts by means of graphical algorithms and transfers onto the canvas in numerous transparent layers of epoxy resin. Since 2014 he has increasingly realised this conceptual approach through the medium of oil painting.
Questions concerning the relationship between the original and its depiction as well as an engagement with the concept of the surface lie at the centre of his creative output.
Zimmermann's work is to be found in numerous private and public collections, for example the Bundeskunstsammlung in Bonn, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The artist lives and works in Cologne.
Exhibitions
solo exhibitions (selection)
2016: Museum für neue Kunst, Freiburg, Germany
2016: Museum gegenstandsfeier Kunst, Otterndorf, Germany
2015: CMYK, dirimart Gallery Istanbul, Turkey
2015: Nunu Fine Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
2014: sur le motif, Gallery Perrotin, Paris, France
2013: Undertones, Wasserman Projects, Detroit, United States of America
2013: Johyun Gallery Busan, Korea
2013: crystal & fruits, Gallery Michael Janssen, Singapore
2012: Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbon, Portugal
2012: drop, Gallery Perrotin, Hong Kong
2011: Panorama, Kunstforum and Kunstverein Schwäbisch Hall, Germany
2009: Museum Moderner Kunst Kärnten, Klagenfurt, Germany
2008: currents, cma, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
2007/2008: wheel. Kunsthalle Nürnberg, Germany
2006: Capas de gelatina / Layers of jelly, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Málaga, Spain
2004: Before After. Delaware Center of Contemporary Art, Delaware, United States of America
2003: x-pollination. with Claus Carstensen, Esbjerg Kunstmuseum, Denmark
2002: Zipp, Kasseler Kunstverein, Kassel, Germany
2001: Flow, Kunstverein Heilbronn, Germany
2001: Kunsthalle Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany
1998: Eigentlich könnte alles auch anders sein, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany
1998: "Kisten & Plakate", Städtische Galerie Donaueschingen, Germany
1997: Otto-Dix-Haus, Gera, Germany
1996: "Remixes", Icebox, Athens, Greece
1996: "Öffentlich / Privat" (with Thomas Locher), Kunstraum der Universität Lüneburg and Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany
1992: Kunstverein Münster, Germany
group exhibitions (selection)
2013: To Open Eyes – Kunst und Textil vom Bauhaus bis heute, Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany
2013: Happy Birthday, Gallery Perrotin / 25 Years, Tripostal, Lille, France
2012: The slide show, FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, France
2011: Farbe im Fluß, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst, Bremen, Germany
2011: Hirschfaktor "Die Kunst des Zitierens" ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
2009: Reloaded, Kunstmuseum Bonn
2009: Extended, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany
2008: There is Desire left (Knock, knock) Werke aus der Sammlung Mondstudio, Museum Wiesbaden, Germany
2008: Vetrautes Terrain. Aktuelle Kunst in & über Deutschland – collector's choice, ZKM, Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe, Germany
2007: Moscow Biennale
2006: Wilhelm-Hack-Museum Ludwigshafen, Germany
2005: Museum der Moderne Salzburg. Rupertinum, Austria
2003: Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart, Germany
2003: Morsbroich Museum, Leverkusen, Germany
2002: Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt/M
2002: Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany
Public Collections
Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Fondation Cartier Pour l'Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Musée d'Art moderne de Saint-Étienne, Saint-Étienne, France
FRAC Languedoc-Roussillon, France
Centre Georges Pompidou (Amis du musée national d'Art moderne), France
FRAC Aquitaine, France
Filmoteca universitaria de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Museum of Modern Art, New York, United States of America
New York Public Library, New York, United States of America
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France
New Orleans Museum of Modern Art, New Orleans, United States of America
Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Cologne, Germany
Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, United States of America
Galerie für zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany
LB Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Bibliography Publications
Books, Catalogues
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 Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Cologne 2009.
Ellen Seifermann (Herausgeber): Peter Zimmermann. wheel. (German and English). Verlag für moderne Kunst, Nürnberg 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, Köln 1998.
Secondary Literature
Harald Uhr:: "Painting versus. Plasma Flatscreen – A portrait by Harald Uhr", Artblog Cologne
Margrit Brehm: The Reflection of Surfaces. Die Reflexion der Oberflächen. La réflexion des surfaces. In: Peter Zimmermann. Epoxiology. Walther Konig, 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, S. 42–47
Ralf Christofori: Kopfsprung in den Signalfluß. In: FAZ, 30 August 2001
Hans-Jürgen August: Erregung kollektiven Lustgefühls. In: Wiener Zeitung, 1 December 2001
Astrid Wege: Peter Zimmermann. In: Art – Das Kunstmagazin Artis. December 1996
Franz Kotteder: Heimwerkers Alptraum. In: SZ 7 March 1996
References
External links
Webpage of the Artist
Paintings and objekts of Peter Zimmermann
More paintings of Peter Zimmermann
1956 births
Living people
Artists from Freiburg im Breisgau
German painters
German male painters
German sculptors
German male sculptors
German contemporary artists