White Bird Gallery hosts Robert Petersen • New Paintings

Monday, 23 April 2007 23:11

Cannon Beach, OR - Robert Petersen’s provocative portraits and figurative based works are created through a mindful practice the artist calls ‘cerebral navigation.’  Using mostly his imagination to render his human subjects, rather than models, Petersen’s latest works are highly refined, yet capture the lucid essence of a painter who uses the power of his mind to form images.  Subtle shadows and invented states unfold against the traditional human forms in Petersen’s canvases, creating a sense of classicism coupled with contemporary themes that is synonymous for works that bridge the imagination and reality.  Petersen’s ‘Cerebral Navigation’ is metaphoric of this process.On exhibition May 4- June 30, 2007.

As a mid career artists known for his large scale ceramic masks and paintings of the same subject, it is only recently that Petersen has become intrigued with the traditional craft of painting and use of the human form in works by 16th Century old masters.  Using an innovative method of stacking varnishes, Petersen’s paintings are finished with a final coat of a resin-based medium.  In turn, his pieces contain a glass-like surface that provides depth and extends the elusive effect of his multilayered painting technique.

In his pieces that range from classical portraits to highly imaginative interpretations of faces and human forms, Petersen addresses a myriad of human emotions in his works; from the very nature of expression itself, to the glory and pain of relationships, as well as the illusions we create about ourselves in order to take refuge and escape blame.  Petersen’s characters exist in a reality where their sense of time and place is very obscured, yet each piece speaks of moments that are authentically ‘human’ and often reach beyond what we initially see on the surfaces of each canvas.

 Robert Petersen has been exhibiting in the Northwest for over two decades with numerous public and private collections including the Tacoma Art Museum, the Hallie Ford Museum in Salem, and the First Interstate Bank of Seattle.  Petersen’s background is in ceramics and painting with studies at the Chicago Art Institute, Alfred University, and Rhode Island School of Design, although he now works exclusively as a full-time painter.  Petersen has also exhibited in San Francisco, Nova Scotia, and New York including a 2 person exhibit at the Centre d’ art du Monte Royal, Montreal, Canada.

Visit White Bird Gallery - 251 N. Hemlock - Cannon Beach, Oregon 97110 - 503.436.2681 www.whitebirdgallery.com