Peppi Bottrop: Tropic of Bottrop

Name: Peppi Bottrop: Tropic of Bottrop
Brand: Sies + Höke
Price: 20.0 EUR
Availability: InStock

€20,00

• German / English, Softcover
• 52 pages
• 26,4 x 21,3 cm
• Interview: Marc LeBlanc and Peppi Bottrop
• Text: Alicja Schindler, Gertrude Wagenfeld-Pleister
• Editorial: Roxanne Mackie, Alicja Schindler
• Design by Studio Thomas Spallek
• 978-3-932729-43-0
• Published by Sies + Höke, 2024

Published on the occasion of the solo exhibition

Peppi Bottrop – Tropic of Bottrop
03.05. – 21.07.2024, Oldenburger Kunstverein.

Bottrop, according to city marketing, is said to be the "fun city" of the Ruhr region. Peppi Bottrop’s Tropic of Bottrop is more the antithesis to this idyll of fun. The tropical elements of his work thematises the unfathomable intricacy of becoming, rather than the artificial, arranged atmosphere of an indoor water park. The artist counters the euphemistic planning for the problem child Bottrop with his own aesthetics of a natural development that asserts itself with chaotic force. Fundamental structural change simply cannot be planned in such a way that one can manage to change everything, so that it all stays just as it is. It is full of destruction, harshness, and ugliness with no prospect of a return to the good old days. The acceptance of this reality, as expressed in punk, can still be felt in Peppi Bottrop’s work today, as the comments about the wildness of his painting repeatedly address. Yet this pigeonhole is too simple. This also applies to the experience of industrial upheaval as a son of the city of Bottrop. It may be a starting point and biographical background, but Peppi Bottrop’s works go far beyond these origins in terms of their content and artistic statement. They captivate with their choice of materials, their diaphanous structures and an overarching concept that depicts change not just as decline and threat, but also as a fascination. Comprehending this is a great gain and—if you will—also fun. Particularly for the Kunstverein of a residential and clerical city like Oldenburg, which has not experienced such radical upheavals as the Ruhr region, a presentation of Peppi Bottrop’s work is a must.

Oldenburg, in April 2024
Gertrude Wagenfeld-Pleister

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Peppi Bottrop at the Oldenburger Kunstverein

Peppi Bottrop (*1986 in Bottrop) is known for his abstract charcoal paintings that reference the history of industrial urban landscapes and societies in Western Germany. The artist was raised in Bottrop – a city in the Ruhr region known for its former coal mining industry – and uses his own past as the backdrop for his intuitive and sensitive large-scale works on canvas. In his work, Bottrop creates impressive correlations between architecture, space, gesture, and subjectivity. The artist lives and works in Los Angeles.