For years, Hans-Peter Feldmann has been collecting original oil paintings from the 19th century, mainly portraits. By gently painting over the pictures, Feldmann shifts the genre from traditional depiction to a post-modern caricature, adding for instance red noses in an attempt to cheer up these austere faces. Beyond an iconoclasm steeped in the legacy of Dada, this series compares the aesthetic ideals of the 19th century against ours, revealing our present connection to images.
