Peter Halley

Artist info

Peter Halley's art is set on Constructivist Colour Field Painting, the composition of his pictures being based on the relationship between - mostly rectangular - forms and the colour fields. As a third element, he adds various colour qualities and surfaces to his repertoire of forms, for instance by using neon and industrial colours or mixing sand or other particles into his paint, adding a three-dimensional relief-quality to his works. On account of these formal aspects of Peter Halley's works, they have been classified as Postmodern Concrete Art and Neo-Geo Art. In terms of content, however, Halley refers to our contemporary semiotic system and forms of communication, especially to digital code systems such as the Internet or circuit diagrams. He perceives this technological structure of the world as a prison of perception, which is why he calls his geometrical colour fields themselves 'prisons'. With his bold colour contrasts and his cultural criticism, Halley combines a powerful aesthetic element with great intellectuality. This makes him one of the leading abstract painters of his generation.

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Galerie Thomas Modern has been representing Peter Halley exclusively in Germany since 2011 and has shown his works in numerous solo and group exhibitions.

In 2016, in Art Basel’s Unlimited section the gallery presented the 18 meters long and 4 meters high installation 'Weak Force'.

'I grew up with the notion that paintings create light, that picturing light was really important. As my work developed, I wanted to make paintings that created light, not natural light, but an artificial light.'
– Peter Halley

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Videos

Peter Halley•about his artistic approach, his references and concepts.

With the artist himsel, Michelle Cotton, (Musée d'Art Moderne, Luxemburg), David Moos (art advisor and curator, former Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto) and Silke Thomas.