NEW YORK, NY.- Peter Freeman, Inc. presents Who cannot wait will stumble, Franz Erhard Walther’s fourth solo exhibition at the gallery and his first presentation in the United States since his participation in the Performa Biennial 2023 program at the Judd Foundation. Curated by Susanne Walther, the show borrows its title from the text published on the occasion of the artist’s 1992 exhibition Übergänge seitlich – Innenmodellierung [Lateral Transitions – Interior] at the Kunstmuseum Luzern, in which he reflects on a series of interrelated sentences about issues of materialization and potentiality.

Potentiality is central to Walther’s practice. It is intrinsic to the participatory relationship he has established between artist, maker, and viewer, where action or even just the possibility of action becomes a form of work itself. Who cannot wait will stumble examines the status of various proposals, works, and architectural projects conceived by Franz Erhard Walther that have yet to be fully realized, or will be on this occasion, prompting us to consider the interdependency and collaboration necessary to produce them. How should the category of unfinished or unexecuted works be treated? Is execution the ultimate goal and, if so, should it only happen during the lifetime of an artist, or beyond? How much does this depend on a specific work’s required materials, time, or circumstances?

The exhibition features dyed and sewn canvas sculptures originally conceived by Walther in the 1980s, including 24 Red Volumes, a Wall Formation, and additions to his series of Alphabet Forms: letters H and P, in a light rose and ochre. Among the works on paper on view are a series of new drawings describing concepts originating from the artist's years in New York (1967–1973) and proposals for other unrealized projects ranging in date from 1965 to 2019. These encompass gallery and museum exhibitions, in addition to public commissions, such as a Dia Art Foundation initiative on Wards Island (1968) and another for Berlin’s National Monument to Freedom and Unity (2009). Also featured is the layout Walther created for a 1965 exhibition at the Galerie Junge Kunst Fulda, Germany, which will finally come to fruition this fall at VILLA Franz Erhard Walther as part of a series dedicated to revivals and reconstructions of the artist’s early exhibitions.

Walther, recipient of the Golden Lion for best artist at the 2017 Venice Biennale, was born in 1939 in Fulda, Germany, where he still lives and works. He gained recognition in the 1960s for his experimental sculpture and was included in important group exhibitions of that era, including When Attitudes Become Form (1969, curated by Harald Szeemann at Kunsthalle Bern, recreated for the 2013 Venice Biennale). His work is in many public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Dia Art Foundation, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (2024) and Haus der Kunst, Munich (2020). Walther’s latest institutional solo show, Attempt to Be a Sculpture, is currently on view at ARTER, Istanbul until 5 October 2025.