Peter Morrens
Point Blank Press
Ink on paper, framed
26,5 x 38,5 cm
Unique drawing
Out of stock
about this work
This drawing is part of an ongoing series entitled Point Blank Press. This is a direct language agency, with Peter Morrens as its only employee. Writer Ed Krcma calls Peter Morrens ‘an auditory flycatcher’: he catches words and phrases he hears when he’s on the train, in a café, on the street, while reading, etc. Sometimes these are bold and strange, sometimes light-hearted and humorous, at other times completely banal. These Dutch, French, English and German words and phrases are written down on the pages of old school exercise books. The strict structure of these pages (with pre-printed grids and lines on which to write) contrasts sharply with the rough, undisciplined and clumsy way in which Peter Morrens sets down his texts. For Peter Morrens, these text works are drawings, by the way, and so language errors simply remain. For: ‘there are no language errors in drawings’, according to the artist.
Fully in line with Morrens’ practice, occasionally some phrases recur in a different form. There are two or three versions of Ik zal eens goed komen lachen met uw expositie (I will come and have a good laugh at your exhibition) for example. This is a unique moment in this Point Blank Press, as this is the first time an actual series develops within the series. In preparation of his recent Billboard Series, Morrens made various new versions of de die die blijven, de die die gaan (those who are staying, those who are leaving). And when discussing the idea of this series of drawings, he made some more variations. The series of 12 variations of de die die blijven, de die die gaan that is presented here, combines drawings from these three periods.
about Peter Morrens
The work of Peter Morrens is not easy to define. He draws and paints, writes and photographs, makes sculptures and installations, does performances, and makes books and films. At first glance, his work seems to go in all directions. You might even think that it is the work of different artists. But actually, his practice is very coherent: he offers us a look at how we relate to the world.
We understand the world and our place in it through images, and how we interpret these in different ways. Peter Morrens works with fragments of these very images: he selects and copies, reworks and adapts existing images, and through his translation, they acquire a personal resonance. For this, Morrens uses very diverse image sources: found fragments from magazines, images from art history, early drawings of his children, images of his own works of art, preserved fragments of text, etc.In this way, Peter Morrens’ entire practice is based on collaboration and association: each work grows out of another image, text fragment or movement, and then in turn transforms into a new image. This constant transformation creates an ever-changing maze of meaning.
Many of the images Peter Morrens reworks are based on a source he made himself: older works of art by his own hand. He does this very consciously in order to break through the chronology of his oeuvre. As a result, Morrens’ oeuvre is not made up of separate works that follow one another neatly in succession, but rather of circular movements in which works are constantly being re-examined and adapted, so that new relationships are constantly being established.
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