Peter Van Dyck
Peter Van Dyck: Paintings
Opening Reception: Saturday, February 14, 1 - 4 pm
On View: February 13 - March 14
Location: Gross McCleaf Gallery, The Mill Studios, 123 Leverington Ave, Philadelphia, PA
Visitor parking is located in The Mill Studios lot, accessible from Leverington Avenue.
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Artist Interview Available: Art Sync | The Surrounding Illusion: Conversation with Peter Van Dyck
Yellow Cake Still Life, Oil on linen mounted on panel, 16" x 20"
About the Artist
Peter Van Dyck was born in Philadelphia in 1978. He studied painting and drawing at the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy from 1998-2002. While studying he also taught in the program from 2000-2002. He returned to Philadelphia in 2002 to paint in his own studio and began exhibiting his work in numerous group shows in Philadelphia, New York and San Francisco.
He has had solo shows at John Pence Gallery, San Francisco; Eleanor Ettinger Gallery, New York; John Pence Gallery, and The Grenning Gallery, Sag Harbor, and Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia. In 2003 he began teaching at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts where, in 2011 he became an Assistant Professor in the Certificate/BFA program.
In 2012 he was named one of 25 Important Artists of Tomorrow by American Artist Magazine. In 2013 his work was included in the book Painted Landscapes, Contemporary Views by Lauren P. della Monica. His work has also been reproduced in periodicals including, American Artist Magazine, American Arts Quarterly, Art News, American Art Collector, International Artist Magazine and Art and Antiques (Courtesy of PAFA).
Front Room, Oil on linen mounted on panel, 28" x 26"
Gross McCleaf Gallery is pleased to present Paintings, a new solo exhibition by Peter Van Dyck. In his recent body of work, Van Dyck begins with an overarching spatial framework, constructing a unified field of space before turning his attention to the objects it contains. Interiors, still lifes, and thresholds unfold through measured shifts in perspective, resulting in the subtle curvature that defines his work.
For Van Dyck, the question is not what a painting is trying to say, but what it is trying to do and whether it is ‘working’. He describes two levels of success: first, the painting must achieve a legible sense of light and space. The second is less tangible. It is, as he explains, “...looking at the painting and being convinced that I’ve made something wonderful. That feeling is hard to define and there’s no concrete indicator of it.”
Although his painted spaces may recall the warp of a camera lens, their curvature is rooted in sustained observation and the physical act of turning one’s head to take in a wide field of view. As Van Dyck turns his head for observation, each shift of attention creates a slightly altered picture plane. These shifting vantage points, translated onto a single surface, create the gentle arc that unifies the composition. The result is not photographic illusion, but a rendering of lived experience, or what it feels like to build perception of a space.
Studio with Horse Head, Oil on linen mounted on panel, 22" x 24"
Van Dyck works exclusively on rigid supports, allowing him to roughly engage the surface directly and without hesitation.
Evidence of process remains visible, not by design but as a byproduct of honest engagement.
“I’ve never finished a painting,” he notes.
Rather than resolving toward a predetermined end, he allows each work to stand as it is at a given moment in its development.
Mystery is not constructed for effect in his work, but arises from the complexity of perception itself.
Each painting becomes an attempt to articulate an experience that can only be told through painting.
