Peter Halley

PETER HALLEY’S FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION IN TURKEY AT SEVIL DOLMACI ISTANBUL

13 SEPTEMBER-30 OCTOBER 2024 || Villa Ipranosyan, Beşiktaş-Istanbul

Sevil Dolmacı Istanbul is proud to announce the first exhibition in Istanbul of American artist Peter Halley,aleading figüre in contemporary art today.. The exhibition, which bears Halley’s own name, will take placebetween 13 September and 30 October 2024 and includes 15 new works created exclusively for theexhibition in the artist’s New York studio.  

Peter Halley’s (b. 1953) art has emerged from his deep study of a wide range of cultures sources. He has been influenced by Pop Art and Minimalism, Picasso and Matisse, historical Islamic art, as well as French critical thinking of the 1970s.

As a young artist he traveled extensively to Mexico, Central America, Morocco, as well as Europe,reflecting his keen interest in non-Western art that challenged the norms of the European artistic tradition.As a graduate student in New Orleans, he developed a particular interest in Islamic art and civilization, as can be seen in the gouache on paper works he created in 1977 and 1978. His graduate work was highlyinfluenced by Persian miniatures and the complex geometry of Islamic tilework that he first saw in person at the Alcavar in Cordova, Spain. Seen from a certain perspective, as an abstract artist, he also embraces theAbrahamic prohibition against representations of the natural world.

Later in his career, in 2013, he accepted a commission for a series of paintings evoking the austere geometryof the Kaaba for Mottahedan Projects in Dubai. Halley was fascinated by the geometry of this sacredstructure which is echoed in late 20th-century minimalism as well as in his own work.  

Peter Halley relocated to New York after receiving his MFA from the University of New Orleans. In theearly 1980s, he had consolidated his mature style and became a central figure in the Neo-Conceptualistmovement that emerged in New York City’s East Village art galleries. This group included Gretchen Bender, Sarah Charlesworth, Jeff Koons, Annette Lemieux, Steven Parrino, Haim Steinbach, , and Phillip Taaffe . Halley played a decisive role in reinvigorating abstract painting in the 1980s. He rejected the idea thatgeometric abstraction was self-referential, arguing instead that the emergence of geometric abstract paintingin the 20th century reflected the rapid industrialization and “geometrization” of social space. He alsochallenged the widespread idea that geometric painting has spiritial aspirations, as seen in the work of Barnett Newman or Brice Marden. Halley attempted instead to employ geometric abstraction as a critique of the constructs of contemporary life, arguing that we are all increasingly isolated in our own “boxes” (like theautomobile and the computer screen) and can only connect by means of physical and electronic structures(such as highways and the internet) created by powerful entities over which we have no control.

He developed this idea by means of a simple visual pun, redefining the square not as an ideal form, but as a unit of confinement. Labeling the solid geometric forms in his paintings as “cells” and “prisons” that areconnected to each other by colored lines he labeled “conduits.” In recent years, a number of critics havecommented that the structure of Halley’s painting anticipated the space of the internet and the world wideweb. While grounded in critique, Halley’s brilliant fluoresent color embodies the frenetic energy of the newdigital world. His work is often playful, as demonstrated by his use of Roll-a-Tex to create texture, whichparodies the kind of construction techniques used in a typical American suburban condos.

At the same time, Halley’s work expresses a deep love of previous abstract painting — frequently makingreference to such artists as Ellsworth Kelly, Barnett Newman, and Frank Stella. As Frank Stella once said in a lecture about Halley’s work in 2014: “The fiery images resonating from the surfaces of the paintings are as free and unfettered as painted visual images can be. Their intensity, their optical and tactile appeal, creates a visual excitement that is a marvel.”

In the 1980s, Halley established a notable presence in the art world, not only as an artist but also as a   writeron culture and art He linked the ideas of French post-structuralist theorists to the digital revolution and thevisual arts. In the 1990s, Halley pioneered the use of Wall-sized digital prints in his multi-mediainstallations. Halley founded and published the influential Index magazine from 1996 to 2005. Themagazine provided comprehensive coverage of the arts, featuring interviews with leading and new figures in the fields of art, film, fashion, and music. From 2002 to 2011, Halley served as the Director of GraduateStudies in Painting at the Yale University School of Art.

Halley’s works are held in the collections of some of the world’s most prestigious museums, including theMuseum of Modern Art in New York, the Hamburger Banhof  of the Berlin National Gallery, and the TateModern Museum in London, among many others.

Peter Halley lives and works in New York City.