Ralf Peters

Gas stations, landscapes, and airports are favorite motifs for photographer and Conceptual artist Ralf Peters (*1960 in Lüneburg). At first glance, his images appear to be familiar, but then disturbing details become evident. Logos and lettering have been removed from the Tankstellen (Gas Stations) series; the pictures are not faithful reproductions of given situations, but rather deliberately aesthetic renderings of the everyday environment. They decidedly reject any claim to conventional realism. In contrast, the views from the windows of an airport in the Salta series are reminiscent of paintings by Piet Mondrian. With these unprocessed photographs, Peters continues playing with the notions of manipulation and documentation, and comes up with astonishing results that present the viewer with insoluble puzzles