Theater

When Peter Stohrer moved to Cologne in 1984, not only a lively art scene awaited him, but also a flourishing independent theater scene. He had already made a painting for the play “Harte Drinks in der in der Südstadt” (directed by Angelika Finger) at the Bauturm Theater, as well as for Burkhard Schmiester’s production of “The Tale of the Maid Zerline” at the

Severinstorburg, from which the name Severins-Burg Theater was later derived. Unfortunately, hardly any photographic images of the stage sets for which he was responsible exist, as they were destroyed during water damage. However, some design sketches can be found, especially of the scene lighting. One focus of his work as a stage designer at that time was lighting design.

Peter Stohrer learned the basics of graphic design from scratch at the advertising school, back in 1969 with preliminary drawings on paper and Letraset letters. Later, at the Folkwang University, the focus was naturally on the interdisciplinary teaching of design under the umbrella term “visual communication. But Peter Stohrer saw himself primarily as a painter, and advertising interested him mainly as the source of his artistic exploration of visual language as such.

What always interested him, however, was the documentation of creative processes, whether his own or those of other artists. His special love was art catalogs and art invitation cards. He collected them and created a considerable archive of contemporary exhibitions and art projects. At the same time, the archive was also a decision-making aid for him in his search for interesting artists. For example, he invited the astonished artist Hans-Peter Webel for an exhibition, based on a catalog from years ago, which he could remember better than the artist himself.

He also designed and produced all the catalogs for the exhibition series for which he was responsible as director of the WBK-Forum Bildender Künstler, as well as numerous brochures during his curatorial activities at the Städtische Galerie Schloß Borbeck. But also independent of concrete exhibitions, he realized catalogs on behalf of other artists. The most extensive (185 pages) was the last design before his death: the catalog “Rudolf Knubel – thinking with his eyes”, which was published on the occasion of a large retrospective of the artist in cooperation with two museums. A fruitful collaboration also developed with the Kulturzentrum Schloß Borbeck, under the direction of Dr. Bernd Mengede, for which he was responsible for the advertising presence from annual programs to the website since 2002. The special thing about his commissioned work as a graphic designer was that it always meant more to him than just doing a bread-and-butter job. Whether it was a sober annual report for the city of Essen or an effective advertising poster for an event, he always struggled not only to find the best possible solution, but also to find his own creative path.