Aaron Petersen Paintings

I caught the opening to Aaron Petersen’s painting show at Ruth Bachofner’s in Santa Monica last Saturday night. I was immediately struck by the sense of space he had evoked. Not the fractured, cubist derived space of many abstract paintings but a far vaster, epic and lyrical space. These are the spaces of a world (this one or another) and Petersen’s comes complete with flora and fauna and a breathable atmosphere. The jewel-like painting passages are offset and balanced by an ominous apocalyptical quality. As I stared into these abstract paintings it occurred to me that perhaps Petersen’s ancestors are not Pollock and DeKooning but possibly Hieronymus Bosch and Albrecht Altdorfer.
View and read more about Aaron Petersen here and here.