(6. August 1944 Birstein – 21. Juli 2014)
Peter Engel’s work, an important but hitherto little-noticed position in German post-war art, explores socially relevant topics in a targeted and critical manner. The fixed star in this cosmos of images is consumption, especially in the form of food. Here Engel recognizes a form of exuberant decadence, analogous to American pop artists and based on an imprint by English artists such as David Hockney, and illuminates contemporary society in his large-format drawings and paintings. In his works, which are consciously oriented towards the still life painting of past centuries, a critique of society and consumption manifests itself in the exuberant layers one on top of the other, until in this “More” the individual changes beyond recognition. Thus unrestrainedly stacked food mutates into landscapes, erotic fantasies or abstract shapes. In these “bulging” pictures the frivolous, the rampant, the baroque of that time resonates, which he holds up to an unleashed society. Parallel to this, intimate portraits of artist friends are created, which repeatedly produce the emotional stumbling in this world.
