Peter Halley

Born in 1953 in New York, USA, Peter Halley lives and works in New York.
Peter Halley, one of the most emblematic artists of his generation, is recognized in the history of contemporary painting as the legitimate heir of American abstraction. In the mid-1980s, he reaches international fame as a major figure of geometric abstraction.
The use of industrial materials, synthetic mortar, Day-Glo, Roll-a-Tex, and fluorescent acrylic paint, as well as recurrent patterns of circuits and cells, create Peter Halley’s signature of instantaneous visual impact. His iconography endows abstract forms with the same value as diagrams and in turn references everything from architecture to societal organizations.
For Peter Halley, geometry is a metaphor for contemporary society. His universe consists of forms that he calls “cells”, “prisons”, or even “conduits”. His use of industrial materials distances his work from painting’s “sublime” character and suggests that his compositions, although abstract, nonetheless have some relationship with external reality. His large-scale paintings highlight the influence of mathematical models, information systems, and even communication flux, in modern cities, societal organizations, and in all aspects of life in a post- industrial society.
Embedded in social, philosophical, conceptual context, Peter Halley’s geometric abstractions operate in the language of codes and tell stories about both the past and the future. Ideographic, the artworks refer to multiple realities at once, from architecture to art history to societal and digital organizations, and create wonderful alchemical riddles – for the viewer to solve.
Peter Halley had numerous institutional shows: CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux (1991), Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (1992), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1992), Des Moines Art Center (1992), Dallas Museum of Art (1995), Museum of Modern Art, New York (1997), Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art (1998), Museum Folkwang, Essen (1998), Butler Institute of American Art (1999), Disjecta interdisciplinary Art Center, Portland (2012), Musée d’art moderne et contemporain de Saint-Étienne Métropole (2014), Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (2016), The Lever House Art Collection, New York (2018), Museo Nivola, Sardinia and The Ranch, Montauk (2021), Dallas Contemporary, Texas (2021-2022).
Public collections (selection): MNAM – Centre Pompidou (Paris, France), Addison Gallery of American Art (Andover, US), Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, US), CAC centro de arte contemporaneo (Malaga, Spain), CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain (Bordeaux, France), Carnegie Museum of Art (Pittsburgh, US), Castello di Rivoli Musem of Contemporary Art (Turin, Italy), Dallas Museum of Art (Dallas, US), Denver art Museum (Denver, US), Museum Folkwang (Essen, Germany), Fonds National d’art contemporain, FNAC Collection (Paris, France), Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (Paris, France), High museum of Art (Atlanta, US), Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (Valencia, Spain), Kitakyushu Municipal Museum of Art (Japan), Mudam (Luxembourg),Museum of Modern Art (New York, US), Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo, Japan), Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles, US), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Canada), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco, US), Seoul Museum of art (Seoul, South Korea), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, US), Tate Modern (London, UK), Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, US).
Works
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Peter Halley
Resistance, 2020
Acrylique, acrylique fluorescente et Roll-A-Tex sur toile
204,5 x 172,7 cm -
Peter Halley
Fire, 2021
Acrylique, acrylique fluorescent et Roll-a-Tex sur toile
213 x 122 cm -
Peter Halley
Apex, 2021
Acrylic, fluorescent acrylic, and Roll-A-Tex on canvas
198 x 104 cm -
Peter Halley
Not to Forget, 2021
Acrylique, acrylique fluorescent et Roll-a-Tex sur toile
204 x 191 cm -
Peter Halley
Activation, 2020
Acrylic, fluorescent acrylic, and Roll-A-Tex on canvas
203 x 172 cm -
Peter Halley
Horizon Line, 2020
Acrylique, acrylique fluorescente et Roll-a-Tex sur toile
202 x 198 cm -
Peter Halley
The Early Paintings, exhibition view
Lopez de la Serna - Contemporary Arts Center, Madrid, 2022
© Peter Halley Studio -
Peter Halley
The Early Paintings, exhibition view
Lopez de la Serna - Contemporary Arts Center, Madrid, 2022
© Peter Halley Studio -
Peter Halley
Interaction, exhibition view
Fondazione Made in Cloister, Naples, 2022
Photo : Francesco Squeglia
© Peter Halley Studio -
Peter Halley
Interaction, exhibition view
Fondazione Made in Cloister, Naples, 2022
Photo : Francesco Squeglia
© Peter Halley Studio -
Peter Halley
Cell Grids, exhibition view
Dallas Contemporary, Dallas, US, 2021
© Peter Halley Studio -
Peter Halley
Antesteria, installation view
Museo Nivola, Sardinia, Italy, 2021
© Peter Halley Studio -
Peter Halley
Columns in 10 colors
Brescia Castello, Italy, 2021
© Peter Halley Studio -
Peter Halley
Column, 2020
STOA169, Polling, Germany
© Peter Halley Studio -
Peter Halley
“Heterotopia I", curated by Gea Politi, presented by Flash Art and the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice. Including works by Lauren Clay, Andrew Kuo, and RM Fischer. Original text by Elena Sorokina.
Photography by Delfino Sisto Legnani, Marco Cappelletti, and Peter Halley Studio
Courtesy of Flash Art Magazine and Peter Halley Studio.
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Peter Halley
“Heterotopia I", curated by Gea Politi, presented by Flash Art and the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice. Including works by Lauren Clay, Andrew Kuo, and RM Fischer. Original text by Elena Sorokina.
Photography by Delfino Sisto Legnani, Marco Cappelletti, and Peter Halley Studio
Courtesy of Flash Art Magazine and Peter Halley Studio. -
Peter Halley
“Heterotopia I", curated by Gea Politi, presented by Flash Art and the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice. Including works by Lauren Clay, Andrew Kuo, and RM Fischer. Original text by Elena Sorokina.
Photography by Delfino Sisto Legnani, Marco Cappelletti, and Peter Halley Studio
Courtesy of Flash Art Magazine and Peter Halley Studio. -
Peter Halley
New York, New York, exhibition in the Lever House, New York, 2019
© Peter Halley Studio