Bündner Tagblatt, December 8, 1996

Large Format Serigraphs by Leta Peer

She was responsible for the artistic design of the Funeral Chapel of the Fürstenwald cemetery. Now eight large format works by Leta Peer on the same theme will be on display at the City Gallery of Chur starting Tuesday.

IIn the competition announced by the city of Chur and two parish communities for the design of the glass front of the funeral chapel in the recently dedicated Fürstenwald cemetery grounds, the artist Leta Peer was chosen as the winner.
The artist, who was born in Chur and lives today in Basel and Berlin, applied figurative and abstract motifs from the three major world religions to the monumental glass front of the chapel using screen-printing technique. Her models included the Madonna of the Sea, a small panel picture from Lorenzo de Medici's collection originally attributed to Boticelli, and terra-cotta reliefs from the Mathura school (India) from the 2nd to 9th century.

In the face of the monumentality of the glass front, the artist consciously started from small forms. Through massive enlargement, screening and the overlapping of the individual, partly identical recurring images, "the contrary `worlds', form languages and iconographies conjoin into a unity. The muted, warm coloration is not unlike old frescos," as the director of the Bündner Art Museum Beat Stutzer remarked in the "Kunstbulletin" 12 / 96.

Transfer to the Center

With the idea of making this "art on site" and at the edge of the city accessible in the city center as well, Leta Peer has prepared excerpts from the glass front in eight large format (100 x 200 cm) serigraphs on paper. Starting on Tuesday (opening 5:00 p.m.), these will be on display for a brief period at the city gallery (courtesy of Galerie Luciano Fasciati, Chur). The artist presents these serigraphs as separate works independent of the glass front of the chapel.

Whereas the effect of the images on the glass front varies, depending on the light, from a strong presence to an almost transparent veil of color, the effect of the three-color screen prints on paper (serigraphy) at city hall has a higher and more constant intensity. The exhibition is supplemented with one showcase each displaying working material for the glass window of the Fürstenfeld chapel and presenting the artist.

(mas)

11-15 December, City Gallery at Chur City Hall, entrance Poststrasse. Opening 10 December, 5:00 p.m.