Divide

This is a vertically oriented painting by artist Peter Halley composed of rectangular forms of various sizes, colors, and textures, including various heights/protrusions from the surface. The painting incorporates two canvases bolted together into a single work with a total measurement of 67 x 55½ inches.

For the last few decades, Halley has created large, bright, textured paintings like Divide. His iconography of geometric cells, networking conduits, rigid bars, and contained spaces evoke the urban experience of physical isolation and penal control that are attendant to modern life. At the same time, the paintings’ rough and plump textures, and their use of bright Day-Glo colors, suggest the euphoria and hyper-exuberance that is also a part of modern life.

2015.32