PETER D. GERAKARIS STUDIO
www.petergerakaris.com
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Peter D. Gerakaris
peter@petergerakaris.com
http://www.petergerakaris.com
PROJECT URL:
http://art.state.gov/
top image
Peter D. Gerakaris
Splinternet/La Fantasia, 2009
Oil over polymer on canvas
96 in. diameter (243.8 cm)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE ART IN EMBASSIES PROGRAM (AIE): NEW LIBREVILLE
EMBASSY IN GABON CELEBRATES 50th ANNIVERSARY OF AIE AND PLACES
NEW WORKS IN PERMANENT COLLECTION
LIBREVILLE, GABON—To commemorate its 50th Anniversary in 2012-2013, the U.S. Department of State Art
in Embassies Program (AIE) will present a series of innovative exhibitions to showcase its role in U.S. Diplomacy
through the “soft power” of art. The recently constructed Sabliere Embassy Compound in Libreville will unveil a
selection of American artwork for their permanent collection, including six oil paintings by artist Peter D. Gerakaris.
Organized by AIE Senior Curator Robert T. Soppelsa, this exhibition will highlight American culture, while simultaneously
reflecting the U.S. and Gabon’s bilateral goals of environmental preservation and the protection of forests.
This year, AIE’s permanent collection has acquired six tondo paintings (circular canvases) from American painter and
interdisciplinary artist Peter D. Gerakaris. The new works will be on exhibition at the Libreville Embassy in Gabon.
Gerakaris creates detailed oil paintings, accordion books, and works on paper that engage Nature-Culture dialectics,
which seek to “tickle the retina and mind” through a hallucinatory cosmology of paint. Five of the six selected works
include his 2011 Terrarium Tondo Series. Executed by hand with a vibratory palette, these oil paintings range from 16
inches to 24 inches in diameter and offer lens-like perspectives into microcosmic/macrocosmic worlds comprised
of botanical abstractions, cosmic fields, and oscillating color. This series evokes terrariums of a surreal and cosmic
nature. Splinternet/La Fantasia (2009) is the sixth and largest tondo to become part of Libreville’s permanent
collection, measuring 96 inches (8 feet) in diameter. This amalgam melds fantastical flora, fauna, and cosmic vignettes.
Within this constructed world, fragmentary views, unlikely juxtapositions, and intricate layers coalesce into a kaleidoscopic
vision of Nature. Writer and novelist Duncan Del Alderson dubs Gerakaris’ painterly style as “Post-Pop Botanic” and
proposes that the artist’s tondos “set the mind spinning with brilliant colors and fantastic forms.” Equally germane
are the remarks of art critic Christopher Hart Chambers in his review for d’Art International Magazine, stating that
the juxtapositions in Gerakaris’ work pose “a thoughtful metaphysical rumination on the relationship of the natural
world with the digital age.”
An official exhibition catalogue will be published by AIE to feature the new acquisitions in the Libreville Embassy,
which will include a curatorial statement by Senior Curator Robert T. Soppelsa. As outreach for those who cannot
view the exhibition in situ, Gerakaris’ studio will publish a digital catalogue of the artist’s tondos which will also
include an essay and interview contributions by independent curator and arts writer Heather Zises.
(PRESS RELEASE CONTINUES ON NEXT PAGE)
ABOUT AIE—For five decades, AIE has played a leading role in U.S. public diplomacy through a focused mission
of vital cross-cultural dialogue and understanding through the visual arts and dynamic artist exchange. The Museum
of Modern Art first envisioned this global visual arts program in 1953, and President John F. Kennedy formalized it
at the U.S. Department of State in 1963. Working with over 20,000 participants globally, including artists, museums,
galleries, universities and collectors, this landmark public-private partnership shares the work of more than 4,000
American and international artists annual in more than 200 U.S. Embassies and Consulates around the world. These
can be exhibitions, permanent collections, site-specific commissions or two-way artist exchanges. Since 2003, over 58
permanent collections have been installed in the Department’s diplomatic facilities throughout the world.
ABOUT THE ARTIST—Peter Gerakaris (b. 1981, New Hampshire) earned his BFA from Cornell University
(Ithaca, NY) and his MFA from The City University of New York’s Hunter College (New York, NY), where he
also received the Tony Smith Prize. Distinctions range from the inclusion of the U.S. Department of State Art
in Embassies Program, the Edwin Austin Abbey Fellowship at the National Academy of Fine Arts, the Clowes
Foundation Full-Fellowship Award at the Vermont Studio Center, and the Sun Room Honorarium at Wave Hill,
to residencies at the Red Gate Gallery (Beijing, China), and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. In addition to solo
shows at Wave Hill (New York, NY) and Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts (New York, NY), Gerakaris has exhibited at
Shizaru Gallery (London, UK); Chinese Contemporary Gallery (Beijing, China); the Doors Feature Exhibition
(Seoul, Korea); Rocketart (Newcastle, Australia); Heather James Fine Art (Palm Desert, CA); Wave Hill (New
York, NY); the Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York, NY); Loretta Howard Gallery (New York, NY); Daniel
Weinberg Gallery (Los Angeles, CA); and the National Academy of Fine Arts (New York, NY).
Gerakaris’ work is featured in many prominent public and private collections in the United States and abroad,
including The U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies Program Permanent Collection (Libreville, Gabon);
Citibank (New York, NY); the Shirley L. & Herbert J. Semler Foundation (Portland, OR); the John H. Friedman
Collection (Stamford, CT); the Stephen P. Hanson Collection (New York, NY); the Patrick McMullan Collection
(New York, NY); Jinho Cho Collection (Seoul, Korea); and the Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection (New York, NY).
Installation View: Terrarium Tondo Series I-V, 2011. Oil on canvas over multiple panels.