Valentiner at Bernutz
Gallery owner Angelika Bernutz (Kaiserswerther Straße 257) presents a selection of impressive colour compositions by Peter Valentiner in her very first exhibition. Harmoniously coordinated, these abstract paintings transform the bright rooms into a sea of colour.
Peter Valentiner, born in Denmark in 1941, received his artistic training in France and now lives and works in Berlin, Cologne and Paris. The acrylic paintings on nettle from the 1980s, mostly untitled and thus without any mental attachment for the viewer, show abstract colour surfaces in various shapes that seem to float in front of a monochrome picture background. The individual colour elements are painted on top of each other in layers with the help of stencils and stand out from their surroundings through strong contrasts; a carpet-like, mosaic effect is created. In this way, movement and static are set in charming contrast.
The works live from the infinite variety of visual tensions achieved by form and colour alone. Shapes collide or overlap and thus indicate visual back and forth; but the colours themselves also have a spatial effect through their luminosity; light ones push forward, dark ones pull into the depths. The differentiated application of paint also creates an exciting effect in the picture; it is sometimes two-dimensional, without a recognisable brushstroke, creating a prismatic effect. Combinations of warm and cold colours produce further effects.
In this way, ideas and moods are conveyed without suggesting real objects. A painting from 1984, for example, spontaneously makes us think of autumn, on the one hand through its warm-cold colour chord, and on the other through the floating, "falling" forms in the foreground. - Valentiner sees his paintings in the tradition of French painting, such as Cezanne's and Matisse's (Until further notice; open Tues.-Fri.3-6pm). ILSE TJARDES
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