Holger Bunk - PFEFFERPRISE (Pinch of Pepper)

Holger Bunk began his career as a figurative painter in the late 1970s in Düsseldorf. Since 1977, he has been creating enigmatic, representative works that often have a subtle ironic undertone.
The painting PFEFFERPRISE was created in 1994 in Bunk's studio in Stuttgart. It was first exhibited in LABOR DER BILDER at the Ulmer Museum. Its inclusion was documented in the accompanying catalogue published by Buchverlag Walther König. In 2023, the painting was exhibited at the Städtische Galerie Villingen-Schwenningen as part of the solo exhibition UND JETZT, and was also included in the exhibition catalogue published by Salon Verlag, Cologne.
The motif shows what appears to be an everyday scene. The composition consists of two figures: a half-figure and a three-quarter figure. Although there are elements of perspective, the spatial arrangement remains deliberately ambiguous. The figure in the background, wearing an apron and holding a bowl, seems to play a serving role, while the figure in the foreground, probably seated, is busy eating. The depicted “meal” is strikingly minimalistic – a plate with only four thin slices of cucumber, which the “guest” spices with pepper.