Peter Buggenhout Belgium, b. 1963

Emerging as one of the most influential sculptors of his generation, Peter Buggenhout (b. 1963, Dendermonde, Belgium) creates works of art that touch upon the paradoxes of meaning. As on par with the ideas of Constructivism in the 1910s, Buggenhout's sculptures are seemingly devoid of any symbolism. Yet, his sculptures stand alone, carrying meaning in its own entity rather than its amalgamation of materials. Constructing, deconstructing, and reconstructing its body, Buggenhout perpetually shapes the identity of these monumental structures.

Buggenhout's sculptures dwell between paradoxes—of representation and abstraction, of singularity and unity, of immortality and extinction. He has created a new language for these bodies of works. The series do not represent things but present ideologies. Yet, the irony in its existence is in the inevitability of its interpretation. Although the bodies of work themselves resemble nothing, through his work series, they begin to resemble those that have been created before. In this way, their identities are indefinitely interchangeable with one another. No work can be easily distinguished, for it is difficult to recall the exact form and structure of each sculpture. Rather, they are constructed as a sequence of analogies (reference Sofie Van Loo's 'Analogies' in Sincerely, a Friend), a parallel presentation of the incomprehensible processes that surround and define us and that embody both the methodical and the arbitrary. Its irony lies within its ability to be solely its own entity, yet also becoming a part of a collective. Buggenhout's works exist without being instructed, for his works are something remembered—but lost.

Born in 1963, Buggenhout graduated from Sint-Lucas with a degree in Installation Art. Transitioning from painting to sculpture in 1989, Buggenhout's main objective was to defy the symbolic representation that he felt was inherent to painting. Peter Buggenhout's work has been exhibited and acquired by numerous institutions worldwide: Centre Pompidou (Paris), MoMA/PS1 (New York), Palais De Tokyo (Paris), Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin), La Maison Rouge - Foundation Antoine De Galbert (Paris), Deichtorhallen (Hamburg), MONA (Hobart-Tasmania), Gladstone Gallery (New York), David Roberts Art Foundation (London), Neues Museum Nurnberg (Nurnberg), Frankfurter Kunstverein (Frankfurt), De Pont Museum (Tilburg), Saatchi Gallery (London), M Museum (Louvain), Marta Herford (Herford), MAM (Rio de Janeiro), MNMN (Monaco), Herzliya Biennial (Tel Aviv), Taipei Biennial (Taipei), Kunstverein Hannover (Hannover), MDD (Deurle), Art Unlimited (Basel), and more.

Buggenhout currently lives and works in Gent, Belgium.