Peter Ravn maler de sjælløse, fortabte corporate mænd, der først på dødslejet indser, at deres far elskede dem. Mænd, der kryber og kravler og sælger ud af alt i karrierens og hierarkiets hellige navn. Moderne mænd, indimellem klædt som 1950’ernes pligtopfyldende familiefædre. Mænd, der forsvinder i habitten. Opløses og forsvinder.
Hvor stammer Peter Ravns mænd fra? Fra hans professionelle fortid? Fra hans fædrene ophav? Jeg ved det ikke, men jeg kender lige netop disse mænd. Jeg har mødt dem professionelt gennem de sidste 25 år. Jeg har været vidne til deres desperate kamp for at finde hjem til sjælen.
Jeg håber, Peter en dag begynder at male kvinder. For vi har kopieret det eksistentielle udsalg, som ellers var mændenes domæne. Opgivelsen overfor normer og autoriteter. Meningsflugten.
Peter Ravn er uddannet ved Arkitektskolens Institut for Design i 1980. Inden debuten som kunstner arbejdede han i mange år med design og visuel identitet, især indenfor pladebranchen, og op gennem firserne og halvfemserne stod han bag den grafiske iscenesættelse af mange af de største danske bands og musikartister. Han har i samme periode skrevet og instrueret musikvideoer. Men op gennem halvfemserne mistede musikbranchen i hans øjne noget af sin uskyld og sin legende skabertrang, og han søgte derfor mod maleriet, som han opfatter som den sidste frie bastion for kreativiteten
(uddrag fra Peters hjemmeside).
Interview i Eye See Hue
Influences: I would rather list what inspires me: Grown-ups from my childhood, old magazines, Central Europe, my grandfather, my grandmother’s boyfriends, Freud (both of them), old Italian and American movies, travelling, all black and white photos, (piano) music, airports and train stations.
Delineate your creative process: My inspiration comes from situations that take place around me, things I see in people’s faces, things I read in books or just think about. I then (re-)create this situation with the men I ask to model for me, make sketches or take photos, and then when I begin to paint, I change it all again. A highly unscientific method.
What compels you to paint these men so blatantly out of ‘the norm’? My work is about the basic existential conditions of interactions, relationships and the relationship between the individual and authorities and the norms of society. About the conversation a person has with him or herself throughout life. Alone.
Nobody hears this silent conversation because it takes place within yourself. To get closer to this, I eliminate the exterior just as I try to avoid contemporary identity markers such as fashion, strange hair, tatoos, piercings etc. My man is everyman having a hard time finding his place in the modernity.
What aspect of society do you believe has suffered the most sense of detachment? What an easy question. We began to feel detached in the beginning of the industrialisation in the eighteenth century, when we left our ancestral land and went to the cities for work. Our land is now an expensive handbag, maybe some family, maybe a house and a garden we will sell one day, old friends, new gadgets and a Facebook profile. And a nationality, how could I forget that…
“I think probably all aspects of society have suffered a sense of detachment and I think that the human being reacts to this with stress.” Peter Ravn.
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