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Peter Bynums work dramatically expands the visual
territory available for painting:
“At its most
provocative, contemporary art turns a corner and
moves away from the past. This direction is put
into motion either by the use of new materials,
by introducing previously taboo content, or by
breaking with traditional formats so that the way
we think about art— what it is and why it looks the
way it does—is challenged. Peter Bynum brings to this
discourse a body of work focused on the subject of
light that both explores and pushes the boundaries
of contemporary painting. He’s making a new dynamic
'experience of painting with light, and he’s making
a sculptural object – there are transparent layers
through which I can dive into this incredible natural
space, almost as if I’m going underwater. The light
itself, glowing, is a breathing element that I find
very dynamic, and something different from other
artists whose work is about nature or about light.
There’s some sort of secret world in the paintings
that is brought out with this light that comes from
behind and presses beyond the edges of the glass.
This goes so far beyond what traditional painting
on canvas has ever been able to achieve. Peter Bynum
has made one breakthrough after another, and pushed
the language of painting into a new place. It changes
the conversation.”
“Bynum has upended the history of painting in four
ways: He brings light from behind the paint;
explodes layers to create three-dimensional,
sculptural paintings; turns passive viewers into
participants by giving them control over the light
level; and reveals paint’s “secret life,” showing
how paint’s natural DNA replicates natural ecosystems
with their branching architecture and dendrite forms.“
- Dede Young, Art Historian and Curator
Bynum’s work was recently selected by the Whitney
Museum’s and SF MoMA’s former Director, David Ross,
for a show at the Woodstock Art Museum (WAAM). Two
other works are currently at the Edward Hopper House
& Museum in Nyack, NY. This is Bynum’s second solo
show in New York.
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