Painting is an investigative process for me.
I often start with just a general idea of what I am trying to
accomplish and allow the painting to guide me as much as I guide it.
I feel I am most successful when I am able to quiet my mind and
follow my intuition. At times
painting feels like a meditation that leaves behind images.
My subject matter moves between
systems paintings, abstracted nature scenes and the Ascension series. I
am concerned in all cases with atmosphere, color and the interaction of
foreground and background components of the paintings. One of the
things I strive to do in a painting is to create a feeling of presence
that changes as one gets closer to the painting; I want the viewer to
find more and more as they approach the painting.
I
want the viewer to feel a vibration from each painting; sometimes I use
complementary colors to do this, other times I will confuse background
and foreground and other times I use broken symmetry.
I feel successful when the painting snaps back and forth between
looking flat and having the illusion of depth.
 Ever since I was a child I have been interested in Art; I
spent many hours entertaining myself with color and line. I originally
went to school to follow in my father's footsteps to become a doctor, but when I
took an art class while in the pre-med program at Oglethorpe University I was
hooked. I spent a year after my sophomore year in college apprenticing
with a tapestry artist in Marin County, California. This was great
training in color and texture and how to create large-scale images.
After my
apprenticeship, I enrolled in the University of Georgia art program and
completed most of my 2-D and 3-D fundamental courses as well as working for a
few quarters with Gary Nofkee in the Jewelry and Metalwork program. I left
UGA after 2 years of study and then enrolled at Georgia State University and was
accepted into the painting program.
Several professors influenced me
tremendously and the big three were Ralph Gilbertson who helped me learn how to
draw and see line, Linda Anderson who helped me to examine what art is and how I
could interact with a theme, and Medford Johnston who helped me hone in on the
subject matter that really moved me and challenged me to critically evaluate
what I was doing. Medford pushed me to push myself in a way that helped me
to move into my own vision.
The works listed on this site were created after a
10 year hiatus from serious painting. I worked in those 10 years in the
business world having much success and feeling like something was missing.
In November of 2003, my family and I sold our home and took off on the road (for
details see our site
www.berrytrip.us, the
story of The Wanderin' Berrys).
Please email me at
peter@peterberry.us
to enquire about availability of works listed or for commissions. All works listed with a
price are available as pictured; those with a gallery have the gallery name
listed and set up as a link to the gallery website.
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