Vanitas - Peter Schenck
From 04/02/2022 To 04/08/2022
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Works in this exhibition are based on the theme of Vanitas: a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, mixed with the wildly colorful compositions by Peter Schenck. Schenck’s new paintings and works on paper will feature elements of the classical still life and portraiture that poke fun at the human condition and the inward life of the studio artist. Paint brushes, palettes, skulls, leaves, pedestals, fruit, sculpture, and the artist himself all jostle for attention in Schenck’s world of gallows humor. The paintings and drawings in Vanitas were created over the last two and half years and many of them completed under the threat and confinement of Covid-19. The painter moved from a communal loft building where he shared a studio with his peers to his now private apartment studio in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. This is important as it relates to the current direction of Schenck’s work. During these uncertain times, it is the simple things that the artist focused on: life, death, pain, joy and humor. Schenck’s faces and figures, centrally located, seek the power of connection, either from the viewer or from other forms within the picture itself. These figures are often camouflaged by still life elements or cubist forms, gazing straight ahead for validation or perhaps a helping hand, while holding up the artist’s tools (brushes, palettes, pencils, etc.) in an attempt to show their vocation and their worth.
