Peter Krashes: More Filled Seats Magnifies the Message

November 12 - December 15, 2013

Peter Krashes, an artist and community activist based in Brooklyn, examines how private citizens can empower themselves in the face of governmental and corporate power. His paintings stem directly from his political actions, whether writing a letter to a government official, organizing a public meeting, or attending a press event to raise questions. In the artist's words, "I play a role in shaping what I paint before I paint it. A letter in my work is a letter that needed to be sent; a meeting is a meeting that I helped to organize; I had a stake in the outcome of the rally. As a result, the paintings are the last step in a process I have been engaged with from beginning to end." For his exhibition at University Galleries, Krashes will install recent gouache works on paper.

Krashes is an artist in residence in the Visiting Artist Program in ISU's School of Art. University Galleries is partnering with the Visiting Artist Program to present exhibitions or performances by the 2013-2014 artists in residence. While on campus, Krashes will teach a seminar, conduct critiques with students, present a public lecture, and install his exhibition. His work has been included in solo exhibitions at Theodore: Art, Brooklyn; Derek Eller Gallery, New York; and Momenta Art, Brooklyn; and in group exhibitions at Crane Arts, Philadelphia; He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China; Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut; White Columns, New York; Zolla/Lieberman, Chicago; and Galerie Chez Valentin, Paris. Krashes was the recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant and a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Arts Fellowship. The artist received his B.F.A. (M.A.) from the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art at the University of Oxford. He received his B.A. from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.