Seven more from the series of ten, all ten paintings won't fit on this wall together. Above is a square approach.

Pictured above is a new work in progress, a segment from a series of ten paintings that I am working on now. Below is the full idea in collage format.

112" x 73"

These are my latest reflections on brightness and heat.


It's so hot out here, the road melted two of my tires last week! We're moving the family back to the midwest, wish us luck.

Peter Williams at SFAI

Peter Williams' residency at the Santa Fe Art institute this summer provided an opportunity to see some juicy new paintings of abstracted figures. Drawing upon the victims of our current war for inspiration, Peter has found a poignant and logical progression into his new body of work. This is great contemporary portraiture. These heads which might at first look to be from another dimension are actually very, very real.

Bright colors vibrate against each other, shocking the eye at first. Then the composition reveals that the paintings are almost symmetrical, like a body the legs and arms balance on each side with unique surprises in the middle. Using the number fourteen to build ideas, it is impossible to make a completely symmetrical painting. An asymmetrical area in the center of the composition suggests the beginning of a new idea. The compositions are fourteen, four and five eighth inch bars across that change color at different vertical heights. By limiting the process to seven colors, fourteen bars across, and pursuing all possibilities, plentiful creative ideas come to fruition. New composition possibilities continue to present themselves with time and experience in this format.

Based in the flattest of flat modernist philosophy, the canvas is stretched directly to the wall from the floor to the ceiling, installed as two dimensional as possible. When canvases are hung together as an instillation, each painting is separated by white areas of canvas to be seen as an individual among the other compositions with the same basic structure. Additionally, Each bar of color stops an eighth of an inch before the next color for separation. Separation of colors helps the eye to comprehend the color, space provides accessibility. Much like in music the space or rests between the notes are crucial to the understanding on the notes themselves.

In an installation setting the paintings have a dialog with each other creating a contemplative environment. Some ideas relate and some are completely different from the next. Distance from the work is crucial to the viewing of installations.