About the artist

For the first thirteen years of my life I was an only child. It was then that I learned to create my own reality through art. My first access into the world of art came from my father. He would sit at his sketching table and meticulously illustrate items ranging from comic book characters to pictures of famous athletes. Though my paintings in the beginning had common subjects such as people and still-lives; I had begun incorporating ideas personal to me and those brought forth by artists that I admired. Themes such as; the feeling of isolation, what constitutes something as artistic, composition balance, and highbrow lowbrow principles, were all explored in my works. With an honest love and appreciation of art unfolding, I realized that the art I enjoyed was different from the undergraduate studies I was learning. My teachers were not interested in art with a concept and instead focused only on technical skill. I wanted to not only improve my technique but also apply it to new works I saw happening in the contemporary art world.   

I took a break from college and began working not only at “regular” jobs but also on the path of my art. These factors in my life in my early twenties fueled my creativity and inspired a large productive outpouring of paintings. My first paintings were a reflection of my recent personal troubles masked in symbols and metaphors that were familiar only to me. They were almost diary entries done in a language only I could read. As my confidence grew I began to lean away from strictly painting on canvas and incorporated collage work and mixed media.

Currently one of the ideas I am exploring is the ideas of abstract expressionism in a controlled compositional environment. I tend to use acrylic paint for its fast drying tendencies and mixed media to reflect the constant information we are all bombarded with. I also enjoy painting on cardboard due to its accessibility and its frugal disposition. I believe that by using cardboard it is easier to bring out the conceptual tendencies of my paintings as its fragility emphasizes the idea and process more than the finished product. I hope to create works that stand on their own as aesthetically pleasing and may cause the casual observer to reflect and pursue other art and artists and maybe create their own art work.

- Peter V.

Instagram: pjvart