Ralf Peters sees photography as an extended dimension of sculpture. He thus mounts visual themes in new photographic arrangements in much the same way materials can be integrated into sculptural shapes. In his work group “Architecture” (2001-19) Peters has digitally pieced together stringent rooms which look out, through their mosaic-shaped windows, onto an architectural panorama.
With their perfectly straight horizontal and vertical lines and color planes, the work series “Architektur” is reminiscent of Piet Mondrian’s Neo-Plasticist later work.
The images in “View” (2019), the most recent series, are dominated by saturated turquoise blue interspersed in some places by flat red rectangles underneath the windows. But the highly detailed appearances are deceptive: Viewers search in vain for a vanishing point, interior and exterior are independent sections. The mountain range that forms the panorama appears highly artificial and lets on that we are looking at a simulation.
The work groups “Indoors” (2001-2002) and “Salta” (2008) are testimony to Peters’ mastership when it comes to playing with his viewer’s perception. Both groups of images feature the harmony of lines and planes characteristic of central perspective. While the first of the two groups was digitally cleared using computer tools, “Salta” shows photographed reality that could be mistaken for a simulation. “I want to challenge viewing habits,” states Ralf Peters: And in he does indeed throw off our logical spatial thinking and reception of reality and simulation in his work.
More
