Peter Adams

Garden of Latrun Monastery Looking West

2010

Provenance Acquired by the gallery directly from the artist Description This plein air oil painting depicts the uniqueness of Anacapa Island in the chain of Southern California’s Channel Islands archipelago. Anacapa was formed by volcanic eruptions. Its desolate landscape is dominated by a distinct geology of steep precipices and jagged rock formations. From this elevated viewpoint, Adams portrays the location known as Cathedral Cove with its outcropping spires and massive kelp beds that hug the shoreline. The peak of the middle island of Anacapa is visible in the distance, and further out to sea is Santa Cruz Island...

Provenance Consigned to the gallery by private collectors Description Sam Hyde Harris was a tremendous storyteller, a talent he successfully translate...

Consigned to the gallery by H&N Fine Art as part of the Katherine A. Norris Legacy Collection FRAMED: 25.75" x 29.5" x 1.125 UNFRAMED: 19.5" x 23.75 Exhibited Early California Mas...

Provenance Acquired by the gallery directly from the artist Frame: 18.5" x 15.5" x 1"; Unframed: 14" x 11"

Horses with carriage. Oil on panel. 16.1 x 24.2 cm

"In the series “This is a real place!” I was fascinated by how the underside of the pier at Saint Simons Island, GA was like a readymade collage. The way the pilings and rails divide and frame the spaces between them looks artificially imposed on the scene until you notice the way the waves bounce off the pilings and the railings cast shadows on the water. In some iterations, I chose to simplify the structures of the pier and lighten the values so that it would emphasize the detail in the water. Likewise, I omitted a family of starlings and their droppings in favor of highlighting the geometry of the architecture and the colors and patterns of the water. Making paintings in a series allows me to investigate the results of making different decisions about an image. How I crop or stylize it, the manner in which I apply the paint, what gets included or excluded all add shades of meaning to each piece. Additionally, depictions of the same subject in different weather, seasons, times of day, and tides allows me a deeper understanding. I notice more relationships, colors, and details every time I paint the subject. Every painting is a pile of decisions. Playing with removing more and more details to see what is truly important sometimes improves the painting. The fewer elements you include in an image, the more each one means, and the more important it is to get each thing perfect. At times I like to paint every single detail I can find in a scene, and other times I feel like the unadorned components are sufficient to hold each other in a satisfying composition. I often add simplified shapes to my paintings to highlight the presence of absence or to heighten the importance of each area by creating stark visual contrasts. ⁠The physicality of the paint also plays a role. I used highly textured, thickly applied paint to construct the solid structural elements, and luminous layers of thinly glazed paint for the delicate linework and subtle blending of the water." - Brooke Lanier...

"In the series “This is a real place!” I was fascinated by how the underside of the pier at Saint Simons Island, GA was like a readymade collage. The way the pilings and rails divide and frame the spaces between them looks artificially imposed on the scene until you notice the way the waves bounce off the pilings and the railings cast shadows on the water. In some iterations, I chose to simplify the structures of the pier and lighten the values so that it would emphasize the detail in the water. Likewise, I omitted a family of starlings and their droppings in favor of highlighting the geometry of the architecture and the colors and patterns of the water. Making paintings in a series allows me to investigate the results of making different decisions about an image. How I crop or stylize it, the manner in which I apply the paint, what gets included or excluded all add shades of meaning to each piece. Additionally, depictions of the same subject in different weather, seasons, times of day, and tides allows me a deeper understanding. I notice more relationships, colors, and details every time I paint the subject. Every painting is a pile of decisions. Playing with removing more and more details to see what is truly important sometimes improves the painting. The fewer elements you include in an image, the more each one means, and the more important it is to get each thing perfect. At times I like to paint every single detail I can find in a scene, and other times I feel like the unadorned components are sufficient to hold each other in a satisfying composition. I often add simplified shapes to my paintings to highlight the presence of absence or to heighten the importance of each area by creating stark visual contrasts. ⁠The physicality of the paint also plays a role. I used highly textured, thickly applied paint to construct the solid structural elements, and luminous layers of thinly glazed paint for the delicate linework and subtle blending of the water." - Brooke Lanier...

The famed whaling ship, Essex, on a roiling and stormy sea. The Essex is arguably the most famous Nantucket whaling ship in history. The Essex was a su...