Tethered to My World - Contemporary Figure Painting

Tethered to My World - Contemporary Figure Painting: Location, Chicago

September 3rd - October 1st, 2010
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 11th (6-9pm)

An exhibition organized by Phyllis Bramson, with a focus on contemporary figuration.

Artists in the exhibition: Nicholas Africano, Scott Anderson, Phyllis Bramson, Peter Drake, Julie Farstad, Andreas Fischer, Vernon Fisher, Anne Harris, Ellen Lanyon, Judith Raphael, Adam Scott, David Sharpe, Elizabeth Shreve, Caleb Weintraub, Karl Wirsum and Kevin Wolff.

Each of these artists requires the figure as a reference, to chart or map the human condition, always looking for a personal connection. Often presenting multilayered situations that can induce many narrative interpretations, the work in the exhibition may walk along various lines between heartfelt sentiment, irreverence and satire.

Choosing painters she has followed throughout the years, Bramson's main criterion was that the paintings communicate to the viewer. “There are basic human needs we all experience: the need to be loved, the psychological consequences of being human, and the twists and turns of truth manipulated with duplicitous thinking. The artists included are genuinely intrigued by the changing and challenging peccadilloes of life.”

War Horse by Peter Drake, courtesy of Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago

TAC The Art Center

1957 Sheridan Road
Highland Park, IL 60035
847.432.1888
info@theartcenterhp.org

Art Chicago 2010 ~ Linda Warren Gallery

ART CHICAGO
Linda Warren Gallery
Opening Preview: April 29th
April 30th – May 3rd
*Drake video animations will be on view*
http://www.lindawarrengallery.com/animations.shtml

Peter Drake, Shell Shock, 2010, 64 x 83", Acrylic on canvas

Arms and the Man by Peter Drake, Video Annimation

Arms and the Man by Peter Drake
2009, Single Channel Video, 2:02m
edition of 5, 1 AP

Peter Drake: Memoirs of Suburbia | NUVO Newsweekly

Peter Drake: Memoirs of Suburbia | NUVO Newsweekly

Posted on Sept. 23, 2009 by Dan Grossman

Evan Lurie Gallery

Manhattan-based Peter Drake is a painter who has allowed his father’s lead figure collection to guide him into strange territory. In his blown up reproduction of a toy Algerian soldier in “Fleur-de-Lis" (acrylic on canvas) the soldier’s enlarged face looks sinister; where the eyes should be you see only black pits. The figure’s sharply focused only in places—a depth of field effect—as if you’re looking at a photograph. But the macro lens through which Drake observed this particular lead figure, before he painted it, gave him a clear view without distortion. The blurred effect, imagined and conceived through Drake’s superb technical capacity, heightens the strangeness of the depicted figure. In the background of this lead figure are two competing images: one the fleur-de-lis emblem, with its representation of the Christian trinity, and the other an arabesque geometrical pattern. Add all this up and you can feel the presence of many competing cultural narratives here, one of which is the evocation of France’s colonial past — which mirrors America’s present.

This first-time retrospective of Drake’s work also features scenes of distress in the midst of suburbia such as “Siege of Syosset” where a tank fires in the middle of a suburban street. Suburbia, at least it seems here, is no safer than the overseas territories where we send our tanks and soldiers.

Also on view is a selection of Drake’s video work rendered with Photoshop and Adobe programs. One video features a parade of toy soldiers marching down a suburban street.Through Oct. 24; 317-844-8400; www.evanluriegallery.com.

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ARTnews May 2009 Review