Peter Coffin is driven by a desire to create ‘new kinds of artistic experiences for the viewer rather than on drawing them into the character of the object’. His work often takes the form of events through which seemingly unrelated elements are brought into relationship with one another to reveal something beyond ordinary perception. Inspired by curiosity, inquisition and a belief in a mystical ‘truth’, Coffin acts as the agent between disparate points of connection to create new pathways of understanding.

Coffin’s projects have included portraits of a person’s aura captured using a specially designed Polaroid camera and constructing and flying a seven metre wide UFO. In ‘Around, About, Expanded Field (Sculpture Silhouette props)‘ 2007, Coffin reduced 40 iconic sculptures–from Koons’ inflatable bunny to an Easter Island head– to silhouette cut-outs which viewers are encouraged to place in front of a projection of landscapes filmed in flight. Freeing the sculptures from their ordinary contexts, Coffin allows them to move, liberated, through the air.

For ‘Untitled (Tate Britain)‘ 2009 Coffin has selected works from the Tate's collection and combined them with a bespoke projected animation and soundtrack. The artworks remain both in their conventional habitat and simultaneously become mobilised as fictitious characters in a new narrative scenario which unfolds in real time and opens up a web of associations. Like the Sculpture Silhouettes in ‘Around, About‘ Coffin charges existing artworks with a life and mind of their own.