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Online

Peter Alexander

In Focus

Feb 9 – Mar 19, 2022

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Peter Alexander, Photography by Steve Kahn
"[Peter’s] art has always devoted its most profound attention to the soft, glistening, metaphoric edge of things, where solids turn liquid, and liquids resolve into atmosphere, where sight and touch are indistinguishable, and we can always feel the air as it moves in off the ocean."

Dave Hickey, 1999

Peter Alexander, Black Stroke #16, 2017, gouache on paper, 11-7/8" × 9" (30.2 cm × 22.9 cm)
While Peter Alexander is best known for his meditative, abstract sculptures, the pioneering Light and Space artist also worked in painting, drawing, lithography, and polaroid photography. This online presentation, which coincides with an in-person exhibition of Alexander’s sculptures at Pace Gallery in New York, spotlights the artist’s gouache works on paper. Featuring four pieces created in 2013 and 2017, this digital showing illuminates a lesser known but key aspect of Alexander’s expansive practice.
Peter Alexander, Untitled (31), 2013, gouache on yupo paper, 14" × 11" (35.6 cm × 27.9 cm), paper 20" × 17" × 1-7/8" (50.8 cm × 43.2 cm × 4.8 cm), frame
Alexander’s explorations on paper can be understood in the context of his work in other mediums, including his famed sculptures. The artist’s abstract and semi-abstract works of this kind are in conversation with his translucent, ethereal, and geometric sculptures, beckoning viewers into their many layers and hues. His works on paper, like his sculptures, were often informed by the natural landscape of his native California.
Peter Alexander, Untitled (07), 2013, gouache on yupo paper, 14" × 11" (35.6 cm × 27.9 cm)
The artist’s deep interest in Mark Rothko’s approach to color and mark making is also evident in his works on paper. Alexander once said, "I’ve always loved Rothko and the sensibility [within the edges he creates], so I decided to cast objects that had those kinds of edges that disappeared."
Peter Alexander, Black Stroke #39, 2017, gouache on paper, 11-7/8" × 9" (30.2 cm × 22.9 cm)
Created in the final years of Alexander’s life, these works on paper reflect the artist’s auspicious and varied investigations into the phenomenological effects of color and light.
To inquire about available works by Peter Alexander, please email us at inquiries@pacegallery.com.

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  • Past, Peter Alexander, In Focus, Feb 9, 2022