Christopher Peter

"Swing Thing" vivid color female silhouette on swing, the wind catches her hair

2021

Christopher Peter blurs the lines between classic silhouettes and dynamic abstract artwork. His paintings have a sense of old world beauty and simplicity to them, while adding texture and bold color transforms them into something no one has seen before. He has successfully put a creative spin on something so timeless, which in turn draws the viewer in for a longer glance and curiosity as to how they were created. His various techniques offer a wide range of perspectives which directly translates into his work. Using classic cut-out silhouettes, he strategically underlays them with collage, paint pouring, mixed media, and more. He himself refers to them as "paintings on top of paintings" because that is precisely what they are. His paint pouring techniques are especially transfixing with the way he uses the direction and movement of the pour itself to add facial features to the silhouettes. Paint is meticulously placed to form lines and curves of a typical human face. As a growing artist, he continuously experiments with unconventional materials and lately has even been incorporating gold leafing, creating a striking juxtaposition of metallics and movement. Christopher Peter proves the whimsical approach to fine art is the breath of fresh air we need and love. His paintings, although requiring excellent technique and practiced skill, are still light, fun, and beautiful. "The Silhouette paintings are constructed in many additive layers, and the entire surface is treated in each consecutive layer. So in a painting that features collage elements (like the Born to Bloom pieces), the entire surface will be layered with those elements, and then layers of paint are added on top and allowed to dry, until the figure is finally resolved and all the layers harmonize with each other. In a piece like the Splash Silhouette, the entire canvas is painted using chemical pouring techniques, then the silhouette is painted with white on top of that colorful surface, so the resulting image is both abstract and figurative, like two paintings done on top of each another. As a whole, my practice is focused on painting figures and landscapes. I like to combine and blur the boundaries between these disciplines in order to establish a more personal narrative between the viewer and the work, and my ultimate goal is to use painting to relate more closely to how we experience our surroundings. As an extension of this, I often find myself using unconventional materials like handmade papers, marbled textiles, vintage roadmaps, and repurposed book pages in addition to acrylic and oil paints." - Christopher Peter