GROUND:COVER;REVEALONSAMMYPETERS’TITLES1

L-R:Peters[all2017]:Emergence:natural;beginning•Reference:bounds;incomplete•Consequence:ingenious;reaction•Appearance:controlled;purpose

Emergence:natural;beginningReference:bounds;incompleteConsequence:ingenious;reactionAppearance:controlled;purpose

Petershasauniquenamingschema.Hisexactingtitlesarecomposedofthreewordswhichprovidetheviewerwithneitheracontextnorastoryline.AndyetPetershasusedthisschemaforoveradecade.Howdothetitlesfunctioninhisaesthetic?

ThereisarelationshipbetweenPeters’paintingprocessandhisnamingdevice.Itliesinthewayeachbreaksconventionalpainterlyandlinguisticstructurestoopenupnewthematicpossibilitiesfortheviewer.

Peters'paintpushingisperfect.Oneonlyhastoimmerseoneselfintohissubtlesurfacedisplacements,hislushrichcolorpalette,hispaintedstrokesofladdersandswirls,andhisplacementofstripedfabriccollages,toknowthatitisperfect.Itrewardstheviewertimeandtimeagainbybreakingthepainterlystructureintoopen-endedvisualpossibilitiesfortheviewer.Thisopen-endedpossibilityisapparentfromwatchingPetersworkthesurfaceofhispaintings,ashemoveseffortlesslyfromformtoformlessnessinseeminglyendlesspermutations.

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1ThisisaportionofalargeressayontheartofSammyPetersthatdrawsupona30-minutepaintingsessionfilmedbyPatrickMcKelveyinPeters’studioin2004.ThetimecodebeginswhenPetersmovestothepaintingandstopswhenhemovesawayfromthepainting.

SPbeginsscrapingoverayellowformbystartingwiththeupperrightredbeanshape.Thisredpaintmixeswiththeyellow.Thetexturepreviouslycreatedbytheunderpaintingcausesthespatulawhichisloadedwithwaxmediumtodigintothefreshpaintandcreatepocketsofopaquecolorcontrastingwithagooeytransparency.Thisglaze-likequalitygiveswhatPeters’calls‘body’totheformand‘gives[thesurface]afeelinglikeit’sbeenaroundforagesratherthanminutes.’ThisisthebasiccomponentofPeters’evokationofsublimetimelessnesswithinagesture.

Peters’paintingisaboutedgesthatcreatevisualcorrespondences–asurfacefilledwithtectonicplatesandgeologicalstriations,archeologicalsitesandPaleolithicdigs,concreteabutmentsandwoodenfences,plowedfieldsandirrigationtrenches,meshes,scarsandgashes.Structureisreducedtoremnants,thesurfacetransformedintofrozenice,translucentandradiant,torevealstrataofsaturatedhuebeneath.Thestrokeisreducedtoedgestransformedbyscrapingandsmearing.ItisattheedgesofhisbrushandspatulathatPeter’narrativestructuretakesholdandspreadsoutacrossthesurfaceofhiscanvas.

Frame00:04:59–00:06:37from2004video•Fragment:Shattered;Imposter,1997,oiloncanvas,69x90inches•Bailinphotograph

Usingthebrushloadedwithyellowpaint,SPcreatestworoundedshapesthatmixwiththewetredpaint.Afterdippingthebrushagainintothepotofyellow,hecreatesaseriesofimprovisationsonstraightandcurvedlinesthatestablishaloosegridoverthemoreatmosphericunderpainting.2establishing,hesays,anorderoutofchaos.“Edgesandcracks-thewayatreepushesuptheconcreteandleavesverydistinctcracksinthegrassalongtheedgesoftheconcrete-tomethat’ssomuchmoreinterestingthanabeautifulfieldofgrass.”Nowonderhisownphotographyfocusesonthebreaksinconcreteorburrowsinplowedfields.

Thoseedgesarecriticaltothelinkbetweenimageandtitle.Itisnotonlyavisualmotifbutaliteraryoneaswell.Whatisamazingisthatwithinthiscomplexityisalinktotheprosaic.Thisframeworkcatchesusoffbalance.Onemomenttheprocessrevealstheexistentialmaterialityofthemediumandthenextreferencesaladderoraworm.Butintheend,itis

2Byunderpainting,Imeananyunderlyingsurfacearea–wetordry.Thedryingtimeisfast,controlledbytheamountofmediumbeingusedandthecoolingtime.

thebuttingupoftheedgesthatlinksthevisualwiththeliterary.AfterseeingaPeters’painting,theviewercan’thelpbutseetheworlddifferently.

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SPpaintsasky-blueV-shapeaboveandintothefirstblackshapecreatedat00:06:40.HemovestotheupperleftsideofthepaintingtoaddanotherV-shape.Movestotherightsideofthecanvasandcreateshissignature‘ladder’drawingdownthesideofthecanvas.“ThesearerepetitivethingsthatI’llthrowinanywhere.TheladdershapeissomethingthatIusequitealot.Iliketherhythmandrepetitivequalityofit.Ilikenittoheartbeat,music,thingslikethat.”HethenpaintstwoblueverticalstripsandthenaddsacurvedlinecreatingaP-shape.

Petershasalreadymentionedthatthewordscomewhilepaintingorasaresultofsomethinghehasread.Theyarenotmeanttobeliteraldescriptionsorthenameofthesubjectofthepaintings.Theactofwriting,separatedfromitsmeaning,containsthegestureofdrawingandviceversa.WhenusingsinglestrokeletteringtechniquetopaintagiantPorusingthewindowwashingmovementtopaintanSoran8,Petersunlinkswordfromimage,imagefromword.

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SPscrapesoffexcesspaintonladder,movesittomiddleofthepaintingandcontinuestosqueegeethesurface,cuttingintoorsmearingthepaint.

SP:[Atitle]canbesomethingbutit'snotreallyrelatedmuchtothepaintingasmuchitistome.IthinkthingsthatIread,thingsthatIthinkaboutareoftenwhatthe...wherethetitlescomefrom.Rightnow,I’musingathree-wordconventionthatseemstoworkwellforme,becauseIdon’twantthepaintingitselftohavesomethingthatnamesitspecifically,sothatitmustbethatandnothingelse.Soratherthanuse"untitled"orsomethingelsethathasverylittledescription,Imightwritedownawordorwordsthatcometomeduringtheactofpainting.TheymorelikelycomefromsomethingIreadthanfromwhatI'mpainting,somethingIdreamedorsomethingsomeoneelsetoldmeorjustthesoundofthewords,howtheyfittogetherinsomesortofpleasingway.Theydon’t

reallyhaveaspecificmeaning.Hopefullytheremightbewordsthatmeansomethingtotheviewerbutnotnecessarilyrelatedtothatparticularpaintingonthatparticularday.Hopefullythepaintingwillseemdifferentfromdaytoday.

Petersnamingconventionissimilartohispaintingpracticeasitcomestohimasaresultofanactionormovementduringthepainting.Thetilesfollowasetsequence:awordfollowedbyacolon,followedbytwomorewordsseparatedbyasemicolon.Thosecolons(meaning"therefore")andsemicolons(meaning"and"or"but")servenotonlytochopupthenormallinguisticflowbuttogivethewordsmeaningsorhintsofmeaningthattheydon'tusuallyhave.Thetitlescompressandexpandthelinguisticstructure.

Apreconditionorbaselineissetupinthefirstwordofatitle(theground,i.e.,Emergence,Reference,Consequence,Appearance3),thenanotherwordisapplied(acoverword,i.e.,natural,bounds,ingenious,controlled)andwiththeadditionofanotherconditionalword(arevealword,i.e.,beginning,incomplete,reaction,purpose)afinalmodificationismadetotheinitialprecondition.Thecolonandsemicolonaddacomplexitytothisrathersimplesequence.Wordsfollowingthecolonarenormallyusedtomodifythemeaningofthefirstword,butinthesetitles,theyusuallycontradictitorseemtotallyunrelatedtoit.ThismayreflectPeters'viewofhowman-madeenvironmentsinterruptnaturalenvironments.

Weexpectmeaningtoemergefromwords,butinPeters’namingdevicethatdirectionissometimesreversedasthecorrespondencebetweenthemeaningsofthewordsandthedramaticpresenceofthepaintmergeandmodifyeachother.Intheend,thetitleservesasaparallelpassageinwhichwordsliterallyrunparallelwiththepictureplane,thepunctuationmarksreflectingtheedgesinthepainting,andtheviewerisleftstandingonshiftingice.

Framedetailfrom2004video

Meaning,then,isunfoldingandreflexivejustasisthe‘reading’ofhispaintings.Thesequenceofwordsactsuponeachotherinwaysthatmimicthedialecticofhispaintingprocess:Petersbeginswithaground(aprecondition)createdalmosthaphazardlywithpaintleftoverfromotherpaintings(sometimescreatedbystudioassistants).Thenhe

3Ihaveselectedthefollowingtitleslistedabove.

undercutsthesurfacebyscrapingorcutting,revealingorobscuringpreviousvisualexpectations.Ground:cover;reveal.

Usually,atitleisalabelingdevicetheartistusestocreateacontextinwhichtheviewercanorienthimorherselftothemeaningorintentionofthework.WithPeters,however,thetitleisironicallymimetic–anintegralandactiveparticipantinthecreationofhisextraordinarypaintings.

DavidBailin,2017