Peter Downsbrough

'Two thin poles (lines) visually connected are placed and designate a location in a space (two lines intersecting a private field of vision). One pole measures the other. One pole always has the same length (height); the length (height) of the second varies within the limits of the first pole. The first pole provides the scale forthe proportional variation of the second pole. The fundamental structure of the art of Peter Downsbrough is then the individual decision about a basic sculptural element (length/height) that can be changed in relation to what cannot be changed: the given length (height) of the first pole. In Downsbrough's books the theme is variation of another abstracted element of sculpture: location (place): a fixed visual sign, two parallel lines, are placed on and within the fixed space of the page. Each place (location) is different and reads, within the continuity of the book as a continued variation. (If the book is seen vertically, the locations can be read as relative to height.) The articulation of an art is always controlled by its own principles: in this case the principle of variation of length (height) in relation to a fixed norm of length. An art can only be read according to its principles (inleiding catalogus R. Fuchs).