Peter Illig

Peter Illig’s latest series of large oil paintings borrow from
vernacular American illustration. These images float in the margins of
our conscious mind as icons of popular art, and even as lowbrow
exploitation. But they are, in fact, full of irony and metaphor. Most
come from paperback book covers, with topics of murder, mystery and
urban life.

 "I use the images to comment on power politics,
and question assumptions we have about relationships between men and
women," says Illig. The paintings, then, hover on the edge of art and
pop culture.

 Illig is a realist, and a surrealist at the same
time. "Once upon a time, the task of the artist was to portray and
interpret the ‘real world,’" says Illig.  "Now it is to discern if
there is a reality behind the appearance of things. Reality is created
by observation. This search through the ‘stuff’ of the world, matter
and flesh, is inherently erotic. And so is the act of drawing and
painting. By immersing ourselves in the physical, material world, we
can see the path to the higher realm, and find the spiritual meanings
behind the physical objects."

These meanings and objects
intersect and overlap – in life, and in Illig’s art. Where does one
object end and another begin? Where does one idea end and another begin
to form? Can theory become visual? These and other questions are
presented in Illig’s work.

In late 2005, Peter debuted his
"Modular Dialog" series, an ongoing body of work composed of individual
14 x 14-inch metaphorical oil paintings which can be arranged and
re-arranged into narrative matrixes of varying sizes and
interpretations. Today, Illig’s studio time is divided between these
black and white paintings, and the new, larger color paintings with
layered images. He is also widely recognized for his charcoal drawings,
some of which are more than 60 ft long. His work can be seen in several
Colorado galleries, and in private and corporate collections around the
world