Color in Focus

The exhibition highlights the fascinating role of color has played in art from the 1970s to the present day. Around thirty works from the Paul Ege Art Collection will be on display, including paintings, installations, objects and prints, alongside new works by artists from the collection as well as loans. The exhibition’s point of departure is the work of painter and draughtsman Frank Badur (*1944 in Oranienburg, lives and works in Berlin and Finland), who has a number of works in the collection. 

The work of Frank Badur—analytical rigor and artistic intuition 

Badur’s work has strong ties to Concrete Art and unfolds in the charged relation between strictly constructed surfaces and color as a central design element. The exhibition is structured around these two poles—Badur’s analytical approach and his artistic intuition in the use of color. 

It explores topics that deal with both the materiality of color and the viewer’s perception, as well as the relationship between color and form, creating cross-generational dialogues with works by artists in Color Field painting, Radical Painting, and contemporary positions.

Color and form—perception and effect

In addition to works by Badur, the exhibition also features pieces by Josef Albers and Rupprecht Geiger, among others, that explore the impact of color. In his color experiments, Albers systematically investigates how our perception changes depending on different combinations of colors and shapes. 

In one exhibition room, the seemingly monochrome paintings of Joseph Marioni, Rudolf de Crignis, and Winston Roeth—all of whom focus on the sensual perception of color—are presented together. Alongside these examples of Radical Painting, the exhibition also includes paintings by Marcia Hafif, another important representative of the art movement. Hafif meticulously researched the fundamentals of color painting and was interested in the material of the painted surface as well as the properties and durability of the paint. 

Young contemporary perspectives 

The exhibition contrasts these and other practices with contemporary, recent works that open up new perspectives and approaches to the subject of color. Works by Kirstin Arndt and Martina Klein act as interventions into in the exhibition space by either using color to create a separate space or by changing the dimensions and perception of the exhibition space. Andrea Ostermeyer has been developing new works specially conceived for one of the PEAC Museum’s exhibition spaces. She reworks everyday materials into completely new forms, such as a room-size installation made of sportswear or a floor painting made from poured turmeric powder. Detached from their original context, the colors of the materials achieve a new autonomy and transform into an opulent color frenzy. 

Featured artists: Josef Albers, Kirstin Arndt, Corey d’Augustine, Frank Badur, Rudolf de Crignis, Rupprecht Geiger, Marcia Hafif, Martina Klein, Imi Knoebel, Axel Lieber, Richard Long, Joseph Marioni, Cristina Ohlmer, Andrea Ostermeyer, Andreas von Ow, Winston Roeth, herman de vries. 

The exhibition will be accompanied by a varied programme of events: https://www.peac.digital/en/kalender