Artist biography:

Peter Weidenbaum is an established contemporary artist born in 1968, Antwerp, Belgium.

Weidenbaum's creative work was primarily influenced by the 1980s an era of developing global capitalism, political upheaval, global mass media, wealth discrepancies and unique music and fashion. The fall of the Berlin Wall at the end of the 1980s marked the end of the Cold War. This had a heavy impact on the generation of artists growing up during this decade.

After creating a remarkable body of work as a sculptor, Peter Weidenbaum switched to painting, a medium that he originally practiced at the Antwerp Academy. His sculpture immediately shows a link with the tradition of surrealism: wedges hammered into a head or fingers crawling out like worms. This is not immediately visible in his painting. That doesn't mean that his desire to capture unconscious processes is less. On the contrary. It could be argued that a work of art is all the more surreal if it is not immediately noticed and if it seems realistic. His work is mysterious and symbolic, a much more common feature of contemporary painting. Things are not as people think they see them. The more ordinary the stranger.

In 1996, at the suggestion of artist Guillaume Bijl, Weidenbaum successfully applied for a training course at the Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK). His investigations into images lead to a cross-pollination between cartoon films and sculptural work. In 1999 he received an invitation from Stijn Huijts, director of the Civic Museum "Het Domein" in Sittard, The Netherlands. This results in his first museum exhibition with the installation "Somebody puts something in my dreams." During this period, Weidenbaum also produces a few "fake reality" short films in which his brother plays the lead role. After his HISK period, he works for three years on a series "Out of the Forest," a set of cryptic sculptures, drawings, and paintings. During this period, Weidenbaum strikes up a close contact with the philosopher Willem Elias, who remarks the following about the series: "Weidenbaum reflects about the world surrounding him. He takes us into the forest. No jolly walkabout but bewitched approaches confuse our sight." In his book "Aspects of Belgian art beyond ‘45", he later cites Weidenbaum under the heading of "neosymbolism," a particular style in Flanders labeled as "the school of Antwerp" and of which Luc Tuymans is the most prominent representative.  

Weidenbaum lives and works in the province of Liège Belgium and in Hradec Králové Czech Republic. And is represented internationally by Jiri Svestka Gallery in Prague.