Peter Kastner: About Birds
Jan van Wissen
Peter Kastner was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1960. He is a painter but also includes all other means of expression as tools in his work, such as graphic arts, video, sound and performance. Peter’s paintings have a kind of "German" look to them, both in terms of subject matter and painting style. He is constantly curious about other cultures though and travels frequently both to work on collaborative projects and to research about the lives and art of others in the world. He is the kind of artist that is never satisfied with his achievements and is constantly pushing himself and his work to reach new heights. Perhaps because of this, Peter makes work that is somewhat at odds with the established art of his country. Therefore, although his work looks "kind of German" it is in fact also "kind of Japanese" or "kind of American," but in the end it is uniquely and uncompromisingly Kastner. Perhaps this is evident in his development from the dark, somber colors (part of the German Romantic painting tradition) to the softer and more primary ones, and in his subjects which became more light with a touch of ironic humour. Aware of the great history of European painting and how this can be creatively stifling in the modern world, he is constantly experimenting with his use of materials. Next to oil color, he also uses all kinds of other materials such as wax, paper, industrial colors, tape and so on. Important for him is also the context in which the painting is presented. A painting can be seen as a closed, independent world within a frame but also as an element of an installation with other paintings, texts, pictures, performances and a diverse range of objects. He prefers to make exhibitions as collaborations with other artists and to date he has done so in Hamburg, Amsterdam, New York and Tokyo. These are not considered to be group exhibitions and they are not the sum of several solo shows. They are aesthetic and conceptual experiments that are, if successful, unified within the context of the project.
Herr Kastner does not fit easily into any artistic mould; he is not the romantically typical lonely genius painter. Moreso he is curious, social, communicative and courageous enough to continue to live on a knife edge by his constant compulsion to experiment. Never relying on past successes, each new piece of art is new from beginning to end. Inevitably, when working in this way not every piece succeeds, but Kastner sees his art and his life as being one, and that it is the act of creation that is key to his intellectual development. This is the best reason to be an artist and it gives the artist the best opportunity to make interesting art.
