Peter Benkert. Constructive Escapades

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All the works are marked by a rigorous structure and a clear organizational framework. Brightly coloured, angular, and circular geometric shapes – taking the form of planks, grids, or probes of varying dimensions – seem to float effortlessly across the canvas, adhering to a plan governed by its own internal logic. The crisp-edged forms, rendered in complementary colours, evoke cosmic imagery and spark futuristic visions.

Galerie Poll first exhibited works by Peter Benkert, twenty-six at the time, in November 1969. The pieces on display were Novopan boards painted with auto lacquer, which the artist dubbed “Luschen”. At art Karlsruhe in February 2024, the gallery presented a widely acclaimed overview of the now eighty-one-year-old painter’s oeuvre as part of the re:discover programme. The current solo exhibition offers a more in-depth look into the artist’s body of work, which he describes as an evolution “from Luschen dandy to hard-edge virtuoso”. With his illusionistic geometric hard-edge paintings, Peter Benkert aims to elicit not only an appealing aesthetic but also an underlying sense of threat and peril.

Peter Benkert, born in Berlin in 1942, studied in 1969 at the University for Visual Arts Berlin (Hochschule für Bildende Künste) as a master student under Prof. Fred Thieler). In 1967, he joined the now-legendary artists’ self-help gallery Großgörschen 35 (1964–1968). His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including Minimalism Germany 1960s at the Daimler Art Collection in Haus Huth Berlin in 2010. Beyond his artistic practice, Peter Benkert dedicated more than twenty-five years to working in the archive of the architectural collection at the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Berlin and five years as an art educator. His works are held in private and public collections, including the MercedesBenz Art Collection in Stuttgart. Peter Benkert continues to live and work in Berlin.