At first glance, Peter Buggenhout’s large fuzzy masses, seemingly covered in thick layers of dust, look like readymade objects, rubble found in the aftermath of a building site, an archaeological dig, or at the scene of a cataclysm – an earthquake, explosion or other force of violent destruction (natural disasters or terrorist attacks?).
Consider his series entitled The Blind Leading the Blind (2008) and Gorgo (2005), charred rotting hulks bearing traces of what looks like steel building beams jutting from concrete fragments. Or Eskimo Blue (1999), which recalls the sun-bleached remains of a prehistoric creature of unknown dimensions, preserved as if for classification in a museum cabinet. Uncomfortably ‘real’, but dissected and presented for study by future generations.