August Robin Peters – 2025 – Mixed media – 34 x 29 x 2,5 cm.
Collage made of bits and pieces of older work combined with new parts, some used materials are: Vinyl from my earlier atelier floor, tear-out parts of a painting on paper, cut-out piece of a painted canvas, pink wooden part from a children’s toy, found on the street.
Landscape of tolerance originated from the desire to create a spatial representation. In the research, shapes were created that remain abstract but want to be figurative. When is an object accepted as a representation? Shapes are enlarged, stacked and hung loosely in space. The painting on cardboard were created by chance out of left-overs. Organized in a patch work manner and directed into a abstract form. Newspapers are painted; some fragments dissapear, other receive attention. The paper is stacked with news which become part of the layering and can not be seen as neutral anymore. Newspapers are sewn together, the thread makes the construction visable. The stacked boxes balance but take up space and hold their ground. Have we entered the setting of a play, with players about to enter the stage?
For the project at the art centre Kel_30 in Haren, I worked on location at the exhibition space for more than 3 weeks at my art installation. The end result is now on display. The show is to be visited from 12.00 – 17.00 on saturday 31 may, sunday 1 June and saturday 7 June at ‘ Kel_30, part of the De Biotoop, Kerklaan 30 in Haren, Groningen.
The idea and challenge for me was to make a sculptural work in a experimental setting, which had to have the right size for the space provided. The starting point for me was to go from a 2 dimensional work into a 3 dimensional installation. Using my materials like cardboard and newspaper, wood and paint in the same collage-like way as I do in my normaly smaller sized works.
Here are some pictures of the making of….. A sneak preview of the end result which you can come and see for yourself.
Preparing a day at the park…
These are studies for making a big size work that I wanted to realize for my participation at the colorfield performance in the summer of ’23. My goal was to make a colorful minimal work with abstract organic shapes and round forms. This idea of these round dots came from my sketches in which I just started to draw stains with colour until it became a form which satisfied me as such. There is still a lot more of experimenting to do with that. For the painting which I had to realize in one day at the project, it had to be recognizable as a landscape but somewhat in between abstract and figurative. How far can you go with abstraction en what do you accept as a recognizable form?
The day: 15 July 2023
The challenge: create a painting on a wooden panel sized 1.22×1.22m in one day in the open air with provided paint. Wooden panel is screwed onto a frame and is adjusted to personal height.
The setting: the painting is one element of a bigger plan; approximately 500 panels/paintings placed next to each other in an eclips formed shape. An outdoor exhibition during the summer, entry free.
The location: Park Lingzegen, Elst, the Netherlands (1 may till 1 oktober 2023)
The project: The colorfield performance
A new work combining painting and assemblage. In a collage manner of working the wooden parts make an alternative “frame” as well as an second layer to the whole image. As my works often needs a certain time to come together, maybe interesting to mention is that the base of this painting comes from a painted canvas (dates 2008) in red and yellow stains that I never finished but in this work has found its place. To me the work reflects a dreamy interpretation of roofs and windows in a red sky.
A year ago from now this work was selected for a new art project in Otterlo, called galerie2020. Each month a different work is on display from a different artist. 12 months, 12 artists. For me the honour to do the the kick-off on 31 december 2019 to be the first on display during the month of January 2020. The vitrine galerie project is curated by Marian Mijnhardt and can be followed on http://www.galerie2020.nl
During the month of January 2020 several visitors came by to look at my work.
‘The Gift’ is a landscape mostly made of wood in combination with a piece of lost driftwoord which I found on the Lido in Venice, some years earlier. A picture I took in the national park The Everglades in Florida USA inspired me and was the starting point for this composition. Other materials I used are eco-line, acryl-paint and lacquer, green tule and an old coaster to make this composition. To me it represents the reminiscence of different places that you visit during traveling and about making connections between those very different parts of the world. It is about dreaming a world and how you can make your own interpretation of a composed world and reality you have actually seen. In this case a travel to Venice and Florida ended up in a landscape with a more Asian feel to it. To me that is ‘The Gift’
Later that year the work was sold and has found a new home where it is appreciated very much.
These photo collages are a study of form and an inspiration for sculptural works. I have a fascination for the shapes, size and rhythm of these beautiful rhododendrons. To me they can also be enjoyed just for what they are. One of many important structures of bedding that shape the environment which we live in or spaces we pass through, especially parks. By using these photo’s in a collage manner of working, I was able to move them just the way I wanted. Will be continued….
These cut-out works on paper came as a result of a longing to bring simple forms and shapes together with a more picturesque background, cluster together as one group of forms in an imaginaire landscape. They could be a border of plants or architectural buildings or big stones.
It’s summer and the sun is brighter then ever, I made a short video about it. Just lay down in the grass and look above you. ( Music fragment from Areal – Kate Bush )
august robin peters 