Peter Land

In videos, sculptures, and installations, Peter Land employs elements of the surreal, absurd, and grotesque to explore the interplay between human experience and the subconscious. The Staircase and The Universe, seminal videos from the 1990s, depict existential scenarios; in the first film, a man falls endlessly down a flight of stairs, in the second, he moves forever through cosmic space. Recalling the work of Martin Kippenberger, Maurizio Cattelan, and Bruce Nauman, Land often uses his body as subject. In Joie de Vivre (1998), the artist’s head bounces around two screens, laughing and contorting on loop and portraying the complexity of uncontrolled emotions. More recently, Land has focused on dreamlike portrayals of himself and others—especially children—that evoke the works of Henry Darger and Balthus, two Danish artists he cites as inspirations.