Peter Welz was born in Lauingen (D) in 1972, he lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin (1993-1995), at the Cooper Union in New York (1997) and at the Chelsea School of Art in London (1995-1998). Since the beginning of the 2000s, he developed a personal kinetic perspective using the video as a sculptural expression on moving bodies. His work is characterized by multimedia choreographic installations including sculpture, painting, video, art and dance. The artist’s interest in architecture and movement led him to work on the series “Portrait”, an ongoing visual study based on four subjects: Francis Bacon, Casa Malaparte, Michelangelo Antonioni, AA Bronson. The encounter with William Forsythe, a leading figure in contemporary dance, has been significant for the launch of the first “portrait” and the making of the installation “Retranslation | Final Unfinished Portrait (Francis Bacon)” presented at Musée du Louvre in Paris in 2005. The unfinished portrait left by the artist before his death in 1992 is the central point of the work.

The Casa Malaparte series is dedicated to that masterpiece of modern architecture designed by architect Adalberto Libera on the island of Capri. A source of inspiration for Jean Luc Godard who filmed part of the film “Le Mépris” in 1963, Peter Welz has been working on the film’s frames removing the bodies and leaving only the naked architecture to interact with the space. In the third portrait, the artist worked on never-seen-before scenes from the movie “Deserto Rosso” (1964) by Michelangelo Antonioni, precisely on the crucial moment when the main character played by Monica Vitti is asked to cry. The fourth portrait revolves around the figure of AA Bronson, a founding member of the artist group General Idea, president and director of Printed Matter, Inc. Peter Welz has been exhibiting in solo exhibitions in important institutions, such as: Museum Pfalzgalerie, Kaiserslautern (2010), National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome (2009), Museum für Moderne Kunst Weserburg, Bremen (2008), Museum für Gegenwartskuns, Hamburg (2007 ), Musée du Louvre, Paris (2006), The Renaissance Society, Chicago and Museum for Modern Kunst, Goslar (2005), Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2004), Goethe Institute, St. Petersburg (2003).

Among the group exhibitions in institutions: Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Oslo (2018), Le Tripostal, Lille (2017), La Cinémathèque Française, Paris (2015), Museum für Moderne Kunst Weserburg, Bremen (2014, 2008), National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (2013), Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2011), Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg (2010), Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen (2007), Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2006), Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver (2005), Vincent van Gogh Institute, Venray (2002), ICA Institute for Contemporary Arts, London (2001). The collaboration between Peter Welz and Galleria Fumagalli began in 2005 with the artist’s participation in the collective exhibition “VISIONI, 20 artists in Sant’Agostino” in Bergamo. It continued in 2009 with the opening of Peter Welz’s first solo show at the gallery, followed in 2014 with the exhibition “Portraits | Installations” and in 2016 “Portrait Malaparte” presented in the new gallery location in Milan.

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SOLO EXHIBITIONS

PETER WELZ
Portrait Malaparte

Opening 16 November 2016
17 November to 20 December 2016

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PETER WELZ
Portraits | Installations

Opening 13 November 2014
14 November 2014 to 6 January 2015

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PETER WELZ

Opening 10 October 2009
13 October to 30 November 2009

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GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Visioni. 20 artisti a Sant’Agostino

9 April to 11 June 2005

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