Andre Peterdi: Presence and Mimesis

About

Presence is a basic concept, when I think about my paintings. The capacities of the painting give me a possibility to establish a relation between painting as a thought process to other kinds of situations, places and geographies. It does mean, however, that I enter into a context of different relations, say, those between reality and truth, and between untruth and fiction. Some paintings are driven forcefully by myself as a person, my own experiences and impressions. Others relate rather to collective visual representations of the world — that can only be experienced in the first place. Two different experiences, then, are there to meet half-way, in the painting. To remember, compare and to picture — mimesis — is based on sensing the world. The various qualities of the painting, its structure,transparency and opacity, try to create a form of the surrounding world, that, again, consists of my own personal experiences, and those of others.