German contemporary artist Peter Zimmermann will stage his first institutional solo exhibition in the Philippines next month as the Metropolitan Museum of Manila opens Painting Rules on 3 February 2026.

The exhibition, mounted in collaboration with Taipei- and New York-based Nunu Fine Art, will run until April 30 at The M Museum’s 3/F North Gallery in Bonifacio Global City. Regular viewing begins on February 4, with museum hours from Tuesday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Painting Rules traces Zimmermann’s decades-long exploration of color, form, and image-making, presenting large-scale oil and epoxy resin works known for their layered surfaces, luminous gradients, and digitally inspired compositions.

Born in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany in 1956 and now based in Cologne, Zimmermann began his practice in the 1980s with his “Book Cover Paintings,” transforming the covers of atlases, art books, and dictionaries into epoxy works on canvas. His practice later evolved into complex, multi-layered compositions that refract and distort photographs, film stills, and diagrams using epoxy resin.

In 2014, Zimmermann began translating his conceptual interest in “digital image generation” into oil painting. Reflecting on this process, the artist said:

“This is the guiding idea behind my epoxy resin paintings, which are based on digital templates such as photos, film stills, or diagrams. I deconstruct and alienate these templates using graphic algorithms before transferring them, layer by layer, onto canvas in numerous transparent coatings.”

Zimmermann’s works are held in major public and private collections worldwide, including the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art in Paris, the Neue Galerie Graz in Austria, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He has also participated in major international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale and the Moscow Biennale.

The Manila exhibition includes Palladium (2022), one of Zimmermann’s most recent works, which now forms part of The M Museum’s permanent collection after being donated by the artist.

Ahead of the exhibition opening, Zimmermann will also facilitate an interactive student workshop featuring the use of custom-designed stickers to create a mural. The program aims to engage young audiences and link the artist’s current oil and epoxy paintings with his earlier installation-based practice.

Zimmermann has visited the Philippines multiple times and has been a familiar presence at Art Fair Philippines through Nunu Fine Art. Over the years, his works have entered the collections of several Filipino collectors.