Peter Böhnisch, born 1977 in Waiblingen, Germany, lives and works in Berlin. He studied at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe under Anselm Reyle and Andreas Slominski. Böhnisch’s practice investigates the boundaries of painting, exploring the interplay of figuration, abstraction, and materiality. His works often employ sand, corundum, and pigment to construct textured surfaces that evoke liminal spaces, memory, and inner reflection.

Recurring motifs include portraits of fictional explorers, mythic figures, and enigmatic landscapes, blending material experimentation with contemplative, psychological narratives. His work navigates the tension between tactile surface and pictorial depth, inviting meditative engagement with both the human condition and the poetic possibilities of painting.

Peter Böhnisch’s Berlin studio is a place where materials and imagination come together. He works on supports such as linen, MDF, and fibreboard, building his surfaces with pigments mixed with sand or corundum to create rich, relief-like textures. These materials are applied in layers and can be brushed, sculpted, or pressed, making the surface itself an integral part of the work’s meaning. He often applies sand and pigment directly with his fingers, shaping the surface intuitively and giving it a highly tactile, sculptural quality.

Böhnisch embraces the natural unpredictability of his materials. The sand and corundum respond to gravity, pressure, and humidity, producing unexpected patterns, subtle ridges, and variations in tone. He incorporates these effects into the composition, balancing chance with intentional design. This gives each painting a sense of depth  and energy, where texture and image interact.  Böhnisch’s works often feature enigmatic figures, mythic or fictional characters, and abstracted landscapes. These elements coexist with the textured surfaces, creating a dialogue between the tactile, physical qualities of the materials and the visual or narrative content. The relief invites viewers to look closely, encouraging a physical as well as visual engagement.

Through this approach, the artist expands the possibilities of painting beyond flat surfaces. His work occupies a space between painting and sculpture, where surface, texture, and image are inseparable. The results are paintings that feel alive, tactile, and meditative, where materials themselves carry meaning, inviting viewers to experience both the physical and emotional dimensions of the work.

Böhnisch has exhibited across Europe and the U.S., with solo shows in Berlin, Naples, Prague, and Los Angeles, and participation in group exhibitions in Berlin, Copenhagen, Turin, Bordeaux, and New York. His work resonates in a global context of contemporary painting that values material innovation, conceptual depth, and narrative resonance. Curators and critics note the tension in his work between immediacy and reflection, and the subtle humour that permeates even his most enigmatic compositions.

The artist continues to expand the possibilities of painting, demonstrating that material experimentation and careful narrative attention can coexist, offering viewers an experience that is both contemplative and perceptually rich.

Peter Böhnisch’s quest is one of light and renewal. His images confront challenges with quiet curiosity, transforming heaviness into an opportunity for growth. In his depictions, Böhnisch tells of devotion and trust in a higher power that is neither loud nor commanding, but gentle and pervasive. For around a decade, Böhnisch has been working with sand, which he sees as both a gift and a patient, alchemical material. This exploration has resulted in delicate sand reliefs that emerge from the picture plane through their structure, as if seeking a connection to our level of perception. At times, contours break through the hardened surface, allowing what lies beneath to shine through. At other moments, the pigment seems to float almost weightlessly above the canvas, reinforcing the ethereal lightness of his paintings.

Böhnisch’s artistic journey begins and ends in the union between the spiritual and the material world. With open arms, the artist invites us to encounter his art and his thoughts and to ask ourselves the questions that guide him. Perhaps together we will find answers, or perhaps we will learn, like Böhnisch, to appreciate the beauty of the questions themselves. In a world so often dominated by certainty, his works remind us that there is a special form of truth in seeking light in
the unknown.