Peter Kunkel

"Hunt - critical realism in mixing techniques"

01.06.2001 - 31.07.2001

Peter Kunkel was born in 1949 in Darmstadt-Arheiligen, where he still lives today. He is presenting a cross-section of his artistic creations at the LAUDA FabrikGalerie during the months of June and July. Kunkel describes himself as a "critical realist" but his impetuous, vigorous and energetic style can definitely be considered expressionistic. The artist deals with very different subjects from almost all phases of life in his exhibits. Peter Kunkel, although he has a fixed framework of values, is not a so-called "moral artist" wishing to spread an ideological point of view. Neither is he a commissioned artist with a given subject. His works are therefore free of intellectual exaggerations. The artistic creativity of this self-educated man, who works as a logistics expert when not creating works of art, manifests itself in numerous paintings and sculptures and indicates enormous excitement from within. His richly contrasting and energy-laden choice of colours of yellow, orange, red and blue reveal an inner fire. Peter Kunkel's works come from an intense inner urge and fight their way out with an enormous amount of energy. It is the artist's desire that the observer comes into contact with his/her inner feelings, sensations and thoughts via the paintings and sculptures, and to him it is not important whether the works are met with approval, pleasure or intense disapproval. His works are reminiscent of Indian and African tribal art. They deal with mythical, archaic subjects and have titles such as "Squaw", "Indian", "Golden Eye", "Jungle" or "Hunting Scenes". Since 1990, Kunkel has increasingly been concerned with the topic of hunting in all its manifestations. Hunting fascinates him as a subject because it is so varied. Hunting animals and man, the hunt for recognition and money, hunting the opposite sex, to name but a few of the enigmatic and superficial facets of hunting. Well over 60 of the more than 3,000 paintings are concerned with this subject. For him, man is both the hunter and the hunted, the victim of his inner and outer urges. The thing about Kunkel's art which continues to fascinate are his colourful mixing techniques. Not only can you discover wax crayons on wrapping paper, collages on textured wallpaper, but also paper painted with oil and chalk, watercolours and photos on canvas painted over with oils. The use of materials which usually have no place in paintings appeals to Kunkel. This achieves an amazing effect and gives a new dimension to the works. Peter Kunkel generally uses wood from broken down houses, the remains of tree-felling or discoveries which have been washed up on the shores of the rivers Rhine or Main. "I never use wood I have bought", Kunkel discloses and laughs. "Everything I use is either begged, borrowed or stolen". Many of his Indian wooden sculptures are coloured, others are blazed to give their surface a structure similar to charcoal. The high-quality surface finish of all painted and natural sculptures is achieved by several applications of linseed oil.

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