(born 1969, in Hanau-am-Meinz, Germany)

Born in Germany, Peter Tillessen resided in France before moving to Zurich—where he has lived and worked since 1990. His art has been shown in both solo and group exhibitions in Zurich, Prague, and Berlin. The title of his recent book Gold plays off associations with the precious metal that sustains Switzerland’s banking industry (which has recently come under fire for its Nazi-era activities). Tracing a path through the banal world of everyday urban life, Tillessen mines the fool’s gold of illusory and simulated phenomena: supermarket shoppers examining shiny displays, building materials arranged like installation art, artificial flora, alien sightings.