In this series Peter Weidenbaum focuses on the city of Antwerp and its people. The metropolis, with its streets, squares and monuments, looks like the pictures in a tourist guide – until, looking closely, we recognise the social power relations that rule the city. Please Painter Paint is a displacement of desire, as if the world expects to be painted and is reflected in the mirror of the painter.
The series was shown in the exhibition Please Painter Paint at the auction house Bernaerts in Antwerp. Peter Bernaerts explains: ‘Every day an auctioneer stands among dozens of canvases and panels, ready for appraisal, research or auction, with a diagnostic eye that does not allow too much emotional identification with the artist, but places the work in its time and context. “A painter has to paint” is Weidenbaum’s motto, which means that by definition he can count on our commitment. He is an artist who still masters his craft in a contemporary way.’
