Peter A. Arvidson (b. 1962)

Works from Peter Arvidson’s “Color Fields” series were featured in a 24/12 exhibition, held at the Burchfield-Penney Art Center from January 13 through February 5, 2006. In his artist statement, Arvidson said, “For this body of work I wanted to focus on color harmonies and made use of elements that I have employed in the past, namely bands of colors and a loose grid to organize and compose. The goal of the resulting paintings is a catharsis of color that shimmer with the tentativeness and uncertainty of life.”  When exhibited together, the various color fields in his work resonate, creating a dynamic that amplifies the modulation of color within each work.

The title of this painting, String Theory, refers to contemporary theory in physics and mathematics that utilizes one-dimensional strings in place of zero-dimensional points for mapping subatomic structures, and at the same time, perhaps mockingly, draws attention to the processes Arvidson utilizes in creating his works. He builds up layers by hand, literally dabbing paint with his fingertips, so that the surface, though arranged in a grid, is more irregular than perfectly symmetrical. There appear to be small pieces of string embedded in the surface.