Henk Peeters

Born 1925 in The Hague, the Netherlands
Lives and works in Hall, the Netherlands

Henk Peeters uses his work to make the viewer conscious of his environment; he
wants to bring about a sensitive consciousness. The materials that Peeters
selects for his works frequently have a very tactile appeal, while he simultaneously
creates a certain untouchability; thus he used fire on canvases, leaving behind
traces of thick smoke, or burned holes into plastic, the so-called ‚pyrographies‘.
With these - often white - works he was visually closely associated with the
German zero artists. There was also a clear relationship with nouveau realisme.
Peeters used ready-mades which he isolated in his work of art. In these he had
a preference for modern, clean, industrial materials such as plastic and nylon.
Peeters once said: ‚With my work, I have always wanted it to look just as fresh as
if it was in the HEMA (a Dutch chain store). It must not be artified... I have no
need for artistic cotton wool.‘ Henk Peeters also worked with natural processes
such as light and water reflections, and with ice, rain, snow and mist. Art and life
should be joined together inextricably.
Henk Peeters studied Fine Art at the Koninklijke Academie voor Beeldende
Kunsten in The Hague and taught from 1957 until 1972 at the Art Academy in
Arnhem, the Netherlands, where he met other Dutch artists, such as Kees van
Bohemen, Jan Henderikse, Armando and Jan Schoonhoven. Together with these
artists, in 1958, Peeters forms the Hollandse Informele Groep (Dutch Informal
Group). The group ceases to exist in 1960, when Peeters, Hendrikse, and
Armando start the NUL movement. Henke Peeters was a member of the
international Zero movement. He inititated the (utopian) project ‚zero on sea‘,
with more than fifty participating artists from over ten countries. He has remained
true to the fundamental concept of the nul movement up to the present day. His
work was part of numerous group exhibitions and a number of solo exhibitions
has been dedicated to him.

Henk Peeters, Pyrography #01, 1962 / 2011, smoke on plastic, 180 x 90 cm | 70.87 x 35.43 in, # PEET0001 Henk Peeters, Pyrography #01, 1962 / 2011, smoke on plastic, 180 x 90 cm | 70.87 x 35.43 in, # PEET0001