Jack Hanley Gallery is pleased to present a group show featuring works by Peter Böhnisch, Sophie Treppendahl, and Paul Wackers. Combining the abstract with the figurative, these artists approach everyday scenes and objects using various techniques.
Based in Berlin, Peter Böhnisch explores the possibilities of painting beyond oil on canvas. There is an alchemical quality about his creative process: different powders are mixed together, substances react with and on each other, harden or break up and, when combined, produce entirely new components. The texture is sometimes reminiscent of archaeological artefacts and fossilised shells, static mementos of time. The beauty of the motifs often contrasts with the coarseness of the surface, while humor and meaningfulness balance each other out.
New Orleans based painter Sophie Treppendahl paints quiet scenes that capture ordinary moments of unexpected bliss. Using light as a tool for abstraction, the artist’s compositions frequently depict colorful interiors full of shapes and shadows—playgrounds for paint and patterns that are rarely populated by figures. Treppendahls’s work explores how the associations contained in pleasant reminiscences bring us together. Treppendahl’s studio is featured frequently in her works, appearing to have just been vacated by the artist; the objects left behind serve to reflect on the painter at work, including a collection of art books, tangled headphones, coffee mugs, and car keys.
Paul Wackers is a Brooklyn based painter who creates intimate and inviting still life paintings, filled with household items, ceramics, plants, and abstract decorative objects. The works are vibrantly colored and linear precision is balanced by texture on the canvas. The abundant scenes are often framed by a grid system, with shelving, fences, and windows creating frames within the paintings.
Born in Waiblingen (Germany) in 1977, Peter Böhnisch studied from 1999 to 2005 at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Karlsruhe with Anselm Reyle and Andreas Slominski. After his studies, the artist initially devoted himself to large-format drawings, which were increasingly replaced by tempera, wax crayon, pastels or acrylics on canvas. For some years now, Böhnisch has focused his artistic practice to the medium of sand. He has been presenting his work in numerous solo and group exhibitions in international institutions, art associations and museums, including in South Korea, the US and various countries in Europe. Böhnisch has achieved further success through his collaboration with renowned German galleries such as Galerie Giti Nourbakhsch, Contemporary Fine Arts, and Galerie Michael Haas. His works are represented in private and public collections worldwide.
Sophie Treppendahl was born in 1991. The artist received a BA in Painting and Printmaking from the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina in 2013. Solo exhibitions of Treppendahl’s work include: Homebody at Johannson Projects in Oakland, California (2022), Living with my (white, Southern, racist) family history at Quirk Gallery in Richmond, Virginia (2020); A Year in Windows at Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Larchmont, New York (2020); and A World of People in my Studio at the Indianapolis Art Center, Indiana (2019); among others. Group exhibitions that have shown Treppendahl’s work include; The Scenic Route at 1969 Gallery in New York City (2021); From Morning Til Night, We Should Never Rely on a Single Thing at Philip Martin Gallery in Los Angeles, California (2021); Fete Galante at Heaven Gallery in Chicago, Illinois (2020); Dreams and Diversions: Images of America at Johansson Projects in Oakland, California (2020); Cool and Collected at Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Kent, Connecticut (2019); No Dead Artists at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, Louisiana (2018); Everybody in the Pool at Ada Gallery in Richmond, Virginia (2018); Summer Through Her Eyes at The Broad in Richmond, Virginia (2018); and Elaborate Pattern at Artspace Gallery in Richmond, Virginia (2018). Treppendahl’s work can be found in private and corporate collections throughout the United States. Treppendahl lives and works in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Paul Wackers was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1978. He received a BFA from Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, DC, and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Recent solo exhibitions include The space we take at Eleanor Harwood Gallery in San Francisco, California (2021); IN A HOUSE OF SHIFTING FORMS at Alice Gallery in Brussels, Belgium (2019); and Silent Language at Galeria Impakto in Lima, Peru (2018). Recent group exhibitions include Earth’s Debit at Public Land in Sacramento, California (2022); Twenty Year Anniversary Exhibition at Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York (2022); and Nature Morte at The Hole in New York (2021). Wackers’ work can be found in collections including MIMA Museum in Brussels, Belgium. Wackers lives and works in New York.
For more information, please contact Kendall Kane at kendall@jackhanleygallery.com