Powen Gallery is honoured to host an exhibition, Peter Opheim’s third solo exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan.

Peter Opheim (b. 1961-), born in Germany, now is an artist based in New York. He has been painting abstract artworks for over twenty years. Later in his career, his style gradually morphed into what we see today.

Each life has a “unique characteristic” gifted by God through his eyes, and he portrays them through a cluster of spherical objects. Those who had come across or ever talked to him, if they were unique enough to impress him, could become the characters in his paintings. However, only Opheim knows who these characters are in the paintings. Furthermore, he believes that each viewer is unique. Therefore, each painting could somehow associate with the viewer’s personal background. This association creates a deep bond and deserves to be respected.

In recent years, Opheim has visited and exhibited twice in Taiwan. This is his third solo exhibition. When Peter was in his 20s, he joined an exchange program and was an exchange student at Soochow University in Taiwan. That is one of the reasons for his affection and willingness to exhibit in Taiwan. Even though his works are trendy in Asia countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, it was merely a coincidence as he did not specifically tailor them to appease the market. Most of his Asian collectors find his well-rounded elf-like characters comforting, appealing and filled with unlimited imaginations.

Opheim creates over 1000 different characters to date, and they cannot possibly be repeated because everyone ought to be unique in this world. Nevertheless, in a society, the phenomenon of people simply agreeing and following blindly is getting worse and worse nowadays. People’s own characteristics are lost.

Male or female, man or other animals, old or young, Opheim did not depict them in specific details; everything is left to our imagination. He believes that we were all born with artistic characteristics; if viewers feel healed, then they may have found their corresponding “innocence” from his artworks, which is worthy of congratulations and shall be cherished dearly.

POWEN GALLERY

May 30th – Jun 28th

Taipei City, No.11, Ln. 164, Songjiang Rd. Zhongshan Dist.

Opening Reception: Saturday, May. 30th, 3pm -5:30pm