Peter Roehr (b. 1944, Lauenburg, Germany; d. 1968, Frankfurt, Germany)

The single driving force behind Roehr’s productive creative unrest was his socalled, “work thought.” Much like a scientific theory, the artist applied this principle to his creative output in a practical way on all possible levels. Only industrially manufactured material provided true sameness, which explains the natural transition from office supplies to graphic design. This evolved into the collages made of corporate brochures and ultimately into the advertising “spots” from which his film montages emerged.

Roehr’s determined use of repetition without variation was well placed alongside Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt and Charlotte Posenenske. Roehr was an eternally restless, impatient, and youthful practitioner who instigated real change, not only in the materials that could be used to make art but also in the way art could be presented. All this comes to its fruition with the seminal 1967 exhibition Dies alles, Herzchen, wird einmal dir gehören (All this, sweetheart, will be yours) organized by Roehr’s best friend, Charlotte Posenenske and Roehr’s partner, Paul Maenz at an outpost of Galerie Loehr near Frankfurt.

Despite having only a brief artistic career, spanning from 1962 to 1967, Peter Roehr left behind him a prolific oeuvre of pioneering collages, photo and sound montages and films.

CV

Selected Exhibitions

Peter Roehr: Extra Mileage

OSMOS Address, New York, NY

May 6 - June 18, 2013