[both at 2 cols]

Paige Peterson, “Black and White,” 2008, acrylic on canvas, 48 by 19 inches.

Paige Peterson, “Beetle Cats,” 2008, acrylic on canvas, 36 by 48 inches.

MUST RUN 7/4

SPANIERMAN GALLERY PAIGE PETERSON, w/2 cuts

ak/gs set 6/25 #743983

 

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. — Spanierman Gallery, LLC announces an exhibition of Paige Peterson’s new paintings, including landscapes, portraits and figural works. An artist and illustrator, Peterson lives and works in both New York City and here.

Characterized as “lyrical” by the Philadelphia Inquirer and “spare but evocative” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Peterson’s images often seem to be vacation snapshots, taken hastily, yet still conveying the artist’s relationship with “place.”

In the show, which will remain on view to July 21, a group of figurative paintings depict clusters people who seem to know each other but are frozen in conversationless poses. Sometimes they confront the viewer, while other times they seem caught unaware. Their thoughts are elusive, and while shadows anchoring them to washed-out backgrounds suggest they are somewhere and that the sun is out, their actual locations are mysterious.

Removing figures from particular places enables them to be seen in pure relationships to each other. The empty sand in the foreground and the empty island on the horizon convey a further sense of solitude and longing, while the emptiness of the sea makes it seem that everyone has left, and Peterson asks, if it is the end of the season or the beginning. Playing with light, Peterson paints forms as flat shapes, weaned of detail. They convey the relationship of a band of sand, a slice of water and a distant locale; much as her figures do, their relationships are based on silence.

In 2002 Peterson was featured in Studios by the Sea, a photographic account by Jonathan Becker and Bob Colacello of artists working and living on Long Island’s East End. A year later, she was selected for lifetime membership in the Guild Hall Academy of the Arts, and in 2004, her work appeared in a group show along with that of Christo, Chuck Close and Alex Katz.

In 2006 she co-authored and illustrated the children’s book Blackie, The Horse Who Stood Still with Christopher Cerf, which is currently in its fifth printing from Welcome Books in New York City .

Spanierman Gallery at East Hampton is at 68 Newtown Lane. For information, 631-329-9530 or www.spanierman-at-easthampton.com.