Ara Peterson, Neon Gray

Ara Peterson uses the materials of paint and wood to record wave patterns into sculptural form. Peterson takes the kinetic attributes of the wave and gives them a static shape. At the same time he takes the static material of wood and gives it the appearance of movement.
Each work begins with Peterson’s mental image of an object that has the capability of changing and evolving through the various stages of execution. From the idea’s conception all the way to its completion as a relief sculpture, Peterson effectively defies the characteristics of both the technology he uses to create the works as well as the material used. The resulting sculptures appear weightless and immaterial before the viewer, visually intense with an animated vibrancy.
In Intersecting Streams (Blue), one of the three major works in the exhibition, Peterson records the dissonant effect of wave patterns intersecting from different directions with varying properties. Standing before the piece over time, new permutations begin to reveal themselves as the viewer slowly begins to decipher the consequence of what Peterson has set into existence.
Ara Peterson (1973, Boston, MA) lives and works in Providence, RI. He graduated with a degree in Film/Video/Animation from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1997. Peterson was one of the founding members of the ground-breaking Providence-based collective Forcefield, who were included in the 2002 Whitney Biennial. Ara Peterson’s work has been exhibited extensively internationally including: Ratio 3, San Francisco; MOCA Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles; Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow; Bergen Kunsthalle, Norway; Macro Museum, Rome; Deitch Projects, New York; P.S. 1 MOMA, New York; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; O.H.W.O.W., Miami; Greene Naftali, New York; John Connelly Presents, New York; The Deste Foundation Centre for Contemporary Art, Athens, among many others. Peterson’s work is in several important public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; The Deste Foundation Centre for Contemporary Art, Athens; The Progressive Art Collection, Cleveland; Berkeley Museum of Art and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley; Albright-Knox, Buffalo.

Exhibition documentation Carolina Romare