"The reality is nothing other than what I show you."
Peter Klasen is one of the founders of the New Figuration of the 1960s. He creates “binary paintings” comprising an opposite representation of the human body and an object, painted or otherwise integrated, which throws into relief the anguishing divide between the world of "being" and the world of "having". The industrial marks his work deeply. We find in Klasen’s paintings objets such as pressure guages, sheets of machinery, metal bolts, tarpulins for trucks and wagons, and hoses for hydraulic circuits. Also present are logos, numbers, and pictures from magazines and posters. A master of contrast, he is fascinated by the hostility of the modern city and by commodifying representations of the body.