Peter Stephens

"Quadrivium 77" 2024 acrylic and collage on paper

2024

Peter Stephens Quadrivium 65, 2024 acrylic and collage on paper 30 x 22 in image size: 12 x 16½ in (ste025)

"I marvel at the fundamental forces of nature, the laws that determine the structure and behavior of matter, the ways and means of how the world looks the way it does. This interest in the science of the natural world led me to read deeply into the physics behind mechanisms of pattern generation. My painting language is based in these wonderments of systems and outcomes and the mathematics that describe them. These new paintings take form with an underlying grid of commercial paint sample cards. This allows me a spontaneous, interchangeable surface to explore color relationships and interactions within given parameters. The layers of acrylic matrix elements come next, all handwork applied line by line. As with numbers in equations, the quantities, sequences, repetitions, and rhythms all contribute to a rich optical blend of color combinations. A given set of colors results in an exponential number of different perceptions. Along with these pure abstractions of form and color come cultural references to histories of art and design with immediate associations to sumptuous textiles and complex architectural mosaics. The evolution of this work is ongoing, it will change and develop as each new mutation moves the morphology forward. These paintings are not illustrations of specific laws that shape the universe and ourselves but an artist’s answer to their implicit resonances. The paintings translate scientific inspirations into a visual, multilayered landscape that in layer after layer enfold one gradient of reality on another." - Peter Stephens

Linda Schmidt’s fabric sculptures intertwine public and private, luxury and common. There is a sense of egalitarianism present in both the way Schmidt so...

PWW-777 is part of Eric Mack's ongoing body of work utilizing multi-media, complex compositions, and a grid centered around urban design. Using a grid to create the framework of the painting, Mack has utilized Zerox copies adhered by a matte medium to create graphic imagery of electronics from the 90s, small bits of a map of various places in Germany, and vinyl records. Mack paints on top of a torn canvas, and on the edges you can see the frayed, painted canvas mounted to the white backing of the frame. The work is finished with glass that shows minimum reflection as well as a customized 2 inch, white frame. Eric Mack (b.1976, Charleston) creates mathematically based renderings with a distinct post-modern twist. Works are informed with super imposed grids, patterns, and portals. Layered surfaces are created with paint, found objects, natural fibers, and synthetic substrates that explore the systems of our visual world. His most recent show “Charting the Terrain” is on view now at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles was covered by the Los Angeles Times, KCRW, and LALA Magazine. His last solo exhibition was titled "Impossible Architectures" at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2017. Recent group shows include "Abstract Mind" at the Czong Institute of Contemporary Art, South Korea, "Small Works 2017 at Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, "Checkered History", Outpost Artist Resources, Brooklyn, N.Y. 2015; Collections include High Museum Atlanta, Ing Investments, Hartsfield Jackson International Airport - Atlanta + Atlanta Gas & Light Co. Pepsi Cola, Tate Properties, Heath Gallery, Harold Dawson Properties, Turner Field/Atlanta Braves...