Biography of Peter Stauss
The vibrant sculptures and paintings of the German artist Peter Stauss combine imagery from historical, religious, and philosophical sources in order to “recreate fables of our times”. Stauss’ fables provoke what he deems are essential questions about modern life and society. He frequently comments on contemporary capitalism by including recognizable symbols of our globalized consumer culture, such as Coca-Cola and hamburgers.
Peter Stauss’ artworks feature a returning cast of characters, soldiers, saints, revolutionaries, marijuana-smoking hippies. Often seemingly random and dislocated historical figures litter his canvases, who often express a sense of defeatism in face of socio-political issues. Recently Stauss has focused on a single character: the Dutch Master. According to the artist the legacy of Dutch master paintings is more relevant than ever, since the Dutch depictions of an emerging primeval capitalism resemble today’s system of alienated labor. As Stauss’ message alters, so does his depiction of the Dutch Master; sometimes he is reduced to only a hat, other times he is animal-like or is built like a comic book superhero.
Peter Stauss was born in 1966 in Sigmaringen, Southern Germany. He has exhibited across Europe, including at the Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp in Switzerland, the Drawing Room in London in 2010, and the Helsinki Contemporary in 2012. Stauss lives and works in Berlin.
