Opening reception Wednesday, 22 May, 6–8pm
David Adamo, Richard Deacon, Cameron Jamie, Alicja Kwade, Heinz Mack, Mike Meiré, Mai-Thu Perret, Otto Piene, Heinz-Günter Prager, Norbert Prangenberg, Thomas Schütte, Rosemarie Trockel, Paloma Varga Weisz, Rose Wylie, Anna Zimmermann
Peter Freeman, Inc. is pleased to present Made in Cologne, a selection of ceramic sculptures all produced in the atelier of Niels Dietrich.
In the early 1980s, Niels Dietrich studied ceramic design at the Hochschule Niederrhein in Krefeld, Germany where he met artist Norbert Prangenberg, who had just been awarded the Mies Van Der Rohe scholarship at the Museum Haus Lang. Prangenberg came to him with a desire to explore ceramics and, through their resulting collaborative relationship, Dietrich went on to establish his own atelier in 1984. The artist then introduced Dietrich to Thomas Schütte, whose series Black Lemons was the first project realized after the workshop relocated from Krefeld to Cologne in 1989. The series will be included in Schütte’s upcoming retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Now, forty years later, Dietrich has established an essential workshop used by some of the most important contemporary artists. As one of the only ceramics ateliers dedicated to fine art, the workshop is distinguished by its capacity to produce significant works of unique quality and scale. The atelier has had a profound influence, elevating ceramic art within the Rhineland and beyond.
This is the first exhibition to highlight the breadth and impact of the atelier. In addition to Prangenberg and Schütte, featured artists include the founding members of the ZERO group Heinz Mack and Otto Piene, both long-time collaborators with the workshop. New ceramics from Alicja Kwade and Mai-Thu Perret embody a visceral materiality, while a kind of structured abstraction is found in works by Richard Deacon and a series of terracotta slabs by Heinz-Günter Prager. Familiar objects recreated by Rosemarie Trockel and David Adamo take on new functions as ceramics, whereas the graphic interpretations of everyday items by Rose Wylie and Mike Meiré reveal playful meditations on the nature of visual representation. Other exhibited works include organic forms by Cameron Jamie and Anna Zimmermann, and figurative works by Paloma Varga Weisz.