Peter Halley – The 80s

Peter Halley – The 80s

In honor of Peter Halley’s forthcoming monographic exhibition at the MUDAM, Conduits. Paintings from the 1980s opening on March 31, 2023, we are pleased to present works by the artist that highlight this important developmental period.

MARUANI MERCIER Gallery celebrates a 20-year milestone marking their relationship with the iconic American artist Peter Halley. After hosting eight solo exhibitions, one duo, and three group shows, the gallery is pleased to dedicate two solo exhibitions to the artist this year. The first exhibition, entitled The 80s will open on March 23, 2023, and will focus on his early period in the 1980s. This poignant era marked the development of his stylistic language that made him, along the likes of Haim Steinbach, Jeff Koons and Ross Bleckner, a standout pioneer of the neo-geo movement. The second exhibition, taking place in September, will focus on newer works that deconstruct a lexicon that had defined his work for more than 40 years.

The theoretical foundation of Halley’s works lies within the ‘prisons’, ‘cells’, and ‘conduits’ of his canvases. These terms are part of his unique artistic vocabulary which stems from his interest in New York City’s geometrical character in combination with the post-conceptualist ideas developed as an art critic and writer. His early works present a mission to portray something unseen before. He integrated atypical, industrial materials including fluorescent Day-Glo paint and Roll-A-Tex to reflect these concepts, rendering geometric works symbolic of modern life: the conduits represent pathways, while the prisons and cells represent notions of confinement.
Peter Halley was born in New York in 1953. He studied first at Yale University and then at the University of New Orleans where he received his MFA. Also a respected art critic and theorist, Halley is revered for his essays on art and published his own magazine INDEX featuring interviews and profiles of other artists. His artwork can be found in collections worldwide including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, Broad Art Foundation, Los Angeles, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Tate Modern, London, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, and the Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, among many others.
The gallery is also proud to have loaned several works for Peter Halley’s concurrent solo exhibition Conduits. Paintings from the 1980s at the MUDAM Luxembourg, also highlighting works from the 80s. Their exhibition will take place from March 31 to October 15th, 2023, and is curated by Michelle Cotton. It is realized in close cooperation with the artist and includes works from the collections of CAPC – Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and more.
An in-house made catalogue surveying his extensive work with the gallery will be published and released in the fall.

Add To Calendar

Maruani Mercier

Event Details

Information

Venue

Map