
Wall Painting Installation. 2015
This image was from an installation I did at Theodore:Art in Bushwick, Brooklyn. It consisted of two wall paintings in conversation with a few small paintings of mine. The wall paintings were not permanent. When the exhibition ended the wall works were whited out. I liked the impermanence and performative aspect of this type of installation. Particularly with painting, which id often viewed as a collectible commodity. The wall paintings are done intuitively on sight. I work from my past work and make decisions based on the space.
Overall, in my work, I favor the emotional level of art over a stricter narrative format and my works utilize geometric constructions, overlapping and a juxtaposition of flatness and depth. The paintings reveal themselves slowly to the viewer, unfolding layer by layer, piece by piece. I like to think these forms are shifting and bumping, stacking and collapsing, reflecting life. How we bounce around, make mistakes, contradict ourselves. Nothing fixed, nothing certain. Working in this field of geometric art, I bring a personal and idiosyncratic touch to this genre and address issues of uncertainty, imbalance and anxiety. Much like the state of the world today.

Shifting Upward. 2017
I start a painting with multiple irregular lines and grids. I then brush on a thin wash of transparent white, which partially obscures this under-painting. This creates a muted scaffolding, or substructure, to build my stacking forms and lines. As I paint, one decision determines the next, building up my wobbly stacked forms. Unlike most geometric painting, which is preliminarily sketched out and planned, I work intuitively, one decision determining the next.
I favor the emotional level of art over a stricter narrative format and my works utilize geometric constructions, overlapping and a juxtaposition of flatness and depth. The paintings reveal themselves slowly to the viewer, unfolding layer by layer, piece by piece. I like to think these forms are shifting and bumping, stacking and collapsing, reflecting life. How we bounce around, make mistakes, contradict ourselves. Nothing fixed, nothing certain. Working in this field of geometric art, I bring a personal and idiosyncratic touch to this genre and address issues of uncertainty, imbalance and anxiety. Much like the state of the world today.

Push Over. 2018
I start a painting with multiple irregular lines and grids. I then brush on a thin wash of transparent white, which partially obscures this under-painting. This creates a muted scaffolding, or substructure, to build my stacking forms and lines. As I paint, one decision determines the next, building up my wobbly stacked forms. Unlike most geometric painting, which is preliminarily sketched out and planned, I work intuitively, one decision determining the next.
I favor the emotional level of art over a stricter narrative format and my works utilize geometric constructions, overlapping and a juxtaposition of flatness and depth. The paintings reveal themselves slowly to the viewer, unfolding layer by layer, piece by piece. I like to think these forms are shifting and bumping, stacking and collapsing, reflecting life. How we bounce around, make mistakes, contradict ourselves. Nothing fixed, nothing certain. Working in this field of geometric art, I bring a personal and idiosyncratic touch to this genre and address issues of uncertainty, imbalance and anxiety. Much like the state of the world today.
Note: The text above was written by the Artist. No modification was made by C.O.C.A.
Gary Petersen was born in New York City. He holds a B.S. degree from The Pennsylvania State University and an M.F.A. from The School of Visual Arts. Awards have included The MacDowell Colony Fellowship 2017, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, Hassam, Speicher, Betts, and Symons Art Purchase Fund Award 2014, The Sharpe-Walentas Foundation Space Program 2010-2011, in Brooklyn, New York, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Painting Fellowship Award for 2011, 2002,1993 and the Edward F. Albee Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship Award, 1988. His work has been exhibited widely in New York City, The United States and recently in Denmark. His work has been reviewed and covered by HyperAllergic (John Yau, 2016), ArtNews (2015), Art in America (2012 and 2005) and The New York Times.