CV

22 januari, 2020

Peter Backhaus
Börselidstorpet
51264 Holsljunga
e-mail: info@peterbackhaus.se

– Education:
1995 – 96 Valand Art Academy, Free art & New Media, Gothenburg, Sweden
1973 – 78 Hovedskous Art School, Gothenburg, Sweden
1969 – 73 Fil.kand. Gothenburg University, (Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology)

– Solo Exhibitions:
2018 Edsvik Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
2004 Galleri Aveny, Gothenburg, Sweden
2001 Vänersborg Konsthall, Sweden
2000 Konstforum, Norrköping, Sweden
2000 Upplands Väsby art gallery, Sweden
1999 Galleri Aveny, Gothenburg, Sweden
1998 Just Art Galerie, Berlin, Germany
1998 Galleri Bergman, Stockholm, Sweden
1997 Bohusgalleriet, Uddevalla, Sweden
1996 Galleri Aveny, Gothenburg, Sweden
1995 Performance, Gothenburg Art museum, Sweden
1995 Galerie Bischoff, Stuttgart, Germany
1995 Galerie Im Zwinger, St. Wendel, Germany
1994 Galerie Fischer, Hannover, Germany
1993 Galerie Koch-Westenhoff, Lübeck, Germany
1992 Lidköpings art gallery, Sweden
1990 Galleri Holm, Malmö, Sweden
1989 Galleri Elva, Stockholm, Sweden
1988 Galerie Stella, Minden, Germany
1988 Uddevalla Art gallery, Sweden
1988 Galleri Bacchus, Borås, Sweden
1987 Galleri Garmer, Gothenburg, Sweden
1980 Galleri 54, Gothenburg, Sweden

– Group Exhibitions (selected):

2022 International Modern & Contemporary Art Exhibition, Kaifeng Art Museum Henan, China

2022 EuroArtfair, Amsterdam, October 2022

2021 Florence Biennale, 23-31 October 2021
2021 Art Fair Beijing, Pashmin Art Gallery

2020 NORDIC-ART-IN-HAMBURG, pashmin_art_consortia
Peter Backhaus (SE), Katrín Snæhólm Baldursdóttir (IS), Atmani Blok (NL) and Mikael Jensen (DK)

2020 The International Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition at
Greenland Marker Center
Kaifeng/Henan/China

2020 ”CHONQING INTERNATIONAL MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITION”
Hong Art Museum, Chongqing – January 10, 2020 – March 31, 2020

2019 ”The Crossroads of the world: Construing Visual Meanings in Contemporary Art”
at Museum of Contemporary Art Beijing

2001 – 2003 Trans/Form, Stockholm, Oslo, Kopenhagen, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania

2001 Måleri & måleri, Kristinehamns Konstmuseum, Sweden

1996 Tutensall, Luxemburg
1995 Sollentuna artfair, Galerie Bischoff, Sweden
1994 Saarländisches Künstlerhaus,Saarbrücken, Germany
1993 Flags around Kinneviken, Sweden
1992 Malmgran Gallery, Gothenburg, Sweden
1984 Norrbottens Art museum (with LOKE), Sweden
1983 Norrköpings Art gallery (with LOKE), Sweden
1983 Eskilstuna Art museum (with LOKE), Sweden
1983 Västerås Art museum (with LOKE), Sweden
1983 Borås Art museum (with LOKE), Sweden
1982 Lunds Art gallery (with LOKE), Sweden
1982 Arvika Art gallery (with LOKE), Sweden
1982 Södertälje Art gallery (with LOKE), Sweden

Bibliography:

Faiq Inram
”PETER BACKHAUS – BRAZEN CONTORTIONS OF THE PSYCHE”
2021

Altiba9
”TEN QUESTIONS TO PETER BACKHAUS”
2021

Dr. Peter Schuett
”PETER BACKHAUS – THE MASTER OF NORDIC CLEAR LIGHT”
2020

Mats Dahlberg
”Painting gets new life in Kristinehamn
15 modern nordic artists show their works in unique exhibition”

Participating artists:
Steinar Jakobsen (NO)
Peter Backhaus (SE)
Max Book (SE)
Claus Carstensen (DK)
Ann Edholm (SE)
Leonard Forslund (DK)
Anne Karin Furunes (NO)
Rosa Liksom (FI)
Micko Maasalo (FI)
Mari Rantanen (FI)
Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd (SE)
Olav Christopher Jenssen (NO)
Martin Bigum (DK)
Marianna Uutinen (FI)
Ragna Robertsdottir (IS)
Review of exhibition ”Painting & Painting” at Kristinehamns Artmuseum, Sweden
NWT
13/12 2001

Torum Andersson
”Renässans for painting”
Review of exhibition ”Painting & Painting” at Kristinehamns Artmuseum,
Sweden
NKP
23/11 2001

Jutta Kübler Boström
”Se tomorrows art
Interesting interpretations of what ”painting” is”
Review of exhibition ”Painting & Painting” at Kristinehamns Artmuseum,
Sweden
Värmlands Folkblad
20/12 2001

Lena Bonnevier
”Is she painting, or what?
Kristinehamns artmuseum calls in the heavy contemporary nordic artists”
Review of exhibition ”Painting & Painting” at Kristinehamns Artmuseum, Sweden
Värmlands Folkblad
10/12 2001

Bertil Wivhammar
”Abstract and realistic art”
Review of exhibition ”Painting & Painting” at Kristinehamns Artmuseum, Sweden
NWT
26/12 2001

Tommy Burman
”Dancing brushes”
Review of exhibition at Vänerborg Art gallery, Sweden
Vänersborg Tidning
3/9 2001

Brittmarie Engdahl
”Backhaus himself
– a part of artforum”
Review of exhibition at Norrköping artforum, Sweden
Norrköping Tidning
17/10 2000

Natalia Kazmierska
”Settlement with Holocaust
Backhaus has put himself into the position of the exposed and humiliated”
Review of exhibition at Norrköping Artforum, Sweden
Norrköpings Tidning,
16/10 2000

Peter Lindkvist
”Rebell against his own art”
Artist presentation,
Working grant, 2 month in Grez-sur-Loing, City of Gothenburg
Göteborgs-Posten
3/4 1999

Neta Norrmo
”An artists way”
Reportage in Bildjournalen
Swedish television
(15 min)
1998

Catarina Testar
”A wall full of inferiors”
Review of exhibition at Galleri Aveny, Gothenburg, Sweden
Goteborgs-Posten
26/5 1996

Torun Börtz
”Peter Backhaus
Between the unharnessed and the controlled”
Artist presentation
Göteborgs-Posten
20/5 1996

Bertil Lundgren
”Changes with Backhaus”
Review, exhibition Lidköping Art gallery, Sweden
NLT
29/1 1992

Maria Domellöf
”Open-ended process the best for Backhaus”
Review of exhibition at Lidköping Art gallery, Sweden
Lidköpings Tidning
17/1 1992

Titti Holmquist
”Overpainting history”
Review of exhibition at Gallery Holm, Malmö, Sweden
Sydsvenskan
15/3 1990

Wolfgang Braun
”Coming home
Strong reactions on Peter Backhaus`art”
Review of exhibition at Galerie Stella, Minden, Germany
Westfalen-Blatt
18/9 1988

Bengt Holmberg
”Intensiv emotional expressions”
Review, Exhibition at Uddevalla Art gallery, Sweden
Bohuslänningen
29/8 1988

Lennart Didoff
”Echoes from Rembrandt”
Review of exhibition at Gallery Garmer, Gothenburg, Sweden
GT
12/12 1987

Maria Rydberg
”When I start painting I just follow
Painting is a physical experience for Peter Backhaus”
Presentation of Peter Backhaus’ artistry
Arbetet
7/12 1987

– Awards, Grants, Residencies:
1999 Working grant, 2 month in Grez-sur-Loing, City of Gothenburg
1996 Saarländisch-Swedish Culture exchange
1994 Saarländisches Künstlerhaus, Residency, Saarbrücken, Germany,
1993 Working grant, Konstnärsnämnden, State of Sweden
1990 Projektbidrag, Konstnärsnämnden, State of Sweden
1989 Ricklundgården Residency, Saxnäs, Sweden
1987 Ricklundgården Residency, Saxnäs, Sweden
1985 City of Gothenburg Culture Award

– Lectures and Workshops:
2000-2014 Founder and owner of Gothenburg Art School
Lectures and seminars at Hovedskous Art school, Gothenburg since 1979 – 2000
Workshop ”Creative Painting” in many parts of Sweden
Workshop ”Inner Pictures” seminars with artstudents and actors

– Collections:
Gothenburg Art museum, Sweden
Borås Art museum, Sweden
Art Board, Gothenburg, Sweden
Swedish Art Board, Sweden
Local authorities and counties in Sweden
Art Associations in different companies in Sweden
Privat collections in Sweden and Germany.

Peter Backhaus Administrator

Peter Backhaus and his Archetypical Expressionism

“My art is uncompromising and direct. It is unique in its poetic, musical expression. The heart is its abode. It connects with the soul's longing for freedom, co-creation and participatory commitment. It is created in the space between rational thinking and unconscious feeling and arises from spontaneous inspirations, but ends up in a long, laborious work process. I call my style ‘Archetypical Expressionism’”.

Dr. Peter Schütt, the famous German writer and art critic once wrote, “Painting is poetry with colors. This applies to Peter Backhaus more than any other artist. The abstract painter moves like a pilot in the immeasurable sea of colors and explores the shallows and hidden reefs below sea level. In his paintings you feel the spray whirled up behind the fast ships. Looking at his works, reminds me of the great Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer, who published "Ostseen" (Baltic Seas).”
Peter Backhaus was born in 1947 in Germany. In 1968 he emigrated to Sweden where he studied philosophy, psychology and art. In Gothenburg he became an associate Professor of art and the owner of an art school. He lives and works in Gothenburg and Berlin.
For Backhaus painting means survival, exploring his creativity is a way to keep his mental health. His paintings are internal images. They come from a level beyond time and space, beyond the personal ego, where complete stillness and total chaos coexist. They are like layers in the archetypal landscape which are deep inside of each person, regardless of culture or color.
Backhaus’s art unites and spreads optimism regarding the human psyche’s ability to bring about change. Art has helped him to process his personal German history. His exhibition, “Unwanted lives” in 1996 was his final settlement with Nazi Germany, shown in different Swedish museums. After that performance, he felt liberated from the past. It was a catharsis, the end of his mourning process. Now his inspiration comes from his inner joy, not being drifted into the common sentimental sweetness.
He works uncontrolled and spontaneously, trying to remain in the ‘now’ as long as possible, in emptiness, without meaning, or sense. On the outside it may look different; every spectator has her/his own world to associate to; their own pair of glasses give them ideas and they remember when being confronted with his mountains of scratched, dripping paint. To him it’s just color and energy. He combines so many essential, beautiful elements: freedom, personal growth, body, mind, feeling, decision making, ecstasy, meditation, reflection, introspection...
He always wants to start from zero. “No matter how long you have practiced, you are always a beginner.” (Zen quote) While he had this kind of thinking his whole adult life, he can’t deny after almost fifty years of painting he has some experience that he can’t simply put aside when he starts something new.
His work has been shown in different Swedish and German galleries and museums. Since 2019, he is represented by Pashmin Art Consortia on international level and has participated in numerous museum exhibitions in China. In October 2021 he participated in Florence Biennale. In 2022 his new series of artworks will be exhibited at Art Archive Museum (Beijing) and the art fair Art Beijing. A book is also planned to be published about his life and art.

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