Der Peter. Born 1966 in Venlo, Netherlands. Former singer and bass player for punk band Pandemonium. Numerous performances through out Europe between 1981 and 1986. Several tape and vinyl releases on the independent Limbabwe label and multiple contributions to international samplers. From 1984 until 1990 involved in the squat and activist movement. First self-published poetry in late 1989. Began painting in 1991. Always on the lookout for the non-obvious, a series of plein-air oil paintings emerged on old greenhouses and world war II bunkers that could and still can be found locally. Years of research on the bunkers accompanied this process, to place them within their historical and - nowadays - even cultural context. Much of the objects in the greenhouse series, though, have been demolished since.
From 1999 on, undertaken numerous visits to Cuba where interest in cuban art and culture began, and from which long-term friendships evolved. The influence these visits and their experiences had on a personal basis can be seen in the Icons series, and can be read about in the Indigo Blue and Red Impact book. As of 2005 mainly switched to English from Dutch in writing poetry and prose, although not specifically planned. Images, words and ideas should be let free to choose their own best suitable expressive form.
Books:
1992 - Aantekeningen van een Stier. Notes of a Taurus; poems and prose in Dutch. Seven original acrylic drawings and two watercolors. 192 pages, hardcover bound by hand. 150 copies, numbered and signed.
1998 - Met de Horens in het Prikkeldraad. Barbed Wire entangled Horns; poems in Dutch. One acrylic drawing, two photographs. 48 pages, hardcover bound by hand. 50 copies, numbered and signed.
2004 - Littekens groeien niet. Scars don't Grow; poems in Dutch. One watercolor, one photograph. 48 pages, hardcover bound by hand. 50 copies, numbered and signed.
2007 - Indigo Blue and Red Impact. Autobiographical English prose, 84 pages, softbound. 200 copies, numbered and signed. An excerpt can be read here.
A CD was recorded with poems, music and street sounds that was intended to accompany the Indigo Blue book. Work on it will prolong to be released in due time.
An eleven minute documentary made by Jorrit Spoelstra in commission of the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam is now shown online. Watch Idealist for life?
2008 - In preparation: Selfless Love of Self and Clinical Trials; both containing poems in English. Furthermore a Dutch autobiography is in progress, entitled: De Jaren '80 - punk en politiek, which will deal solely with the 1980's.
Der Peter's blog
Tajiri's Ronin gedichten
Kill Poet poem
Pamphlets in Dutch:
De Kulturkammer van Venlo I
De Kulturkammer van Venlo II
Open brief aan A.F.Th. van der Heijden
De kleine Messias van Groot-Venlo
Paintings:
Greenhouses
Bunkers
Icons I
Icons II
DIN-A4 project
all images © der peter