Summer 2007
Porn Star Passion Play
PLATO'S CAVE (detail), oil on canvas, 3 ft x 36 ft
July 13 - 29, 2007
Porn Star Passion Play
at PIRATE: Contemporary Art
3655 Navajo St., Denver CO
Opening Reception: 6-10 pm Friday, July 13
Plato's Cave (detail), oil on canvas, 3 ft x 36 ft
Peter's annual summer solo show at Pirate is not to be missed!! This one features several new large oil paintings (combining black and white with color images) and Peter's latest masterwork: "Plato's Cave," a 36-ft long aperture montage painting! And joining us in the Associate's Gallery is one of Denver's HOTTEST young artists -- Brian Robertson! This is going to be a GREAT Show! Gallery Hours: Fri: 6-10pm. Sat-Sun 12-5pm.
Reception Photos courtesy Kem Hamel www.DenverArts.org :
Pete in front of the 36-ft long painting, Plato's Cave.
  
Left to Right: Pete with artist's model Kim Barcelona; Lauri Lynnxe Murphy and Riva Sweetrocket; Pete and Rodney Wallace
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Summer 2006
POPULAR MECHANICS
new drawings and paintings by Peter Illig
PIRATE: CONTEMPORARY ART JUNE 30 - JULY 16, 2006
 
Dangerous Ideas, charcoal on paper, 42" x 80" Fall of Icarus, charcoal on paper, 42" x 80"
June 30 - July 16 = POPULAR MECHANICS -- PIRATE CONTEMPORARY ART. Pete's biggest solo show of 2006 was up for 3 weekends, and the response was incredible. His new figurative works explore the disintegration of boundaries between technology and humanity. Ten large charcoal drawings contain visual ideas about how people interact with their machines. There was also a new display of Modular Dialog paintings.
Photos from the Reception and the Show:
 
 
above: Connection, charcoal on paper, 85 x 42. Mary Chandler called this one "the standout" (Rocky Mountain News).
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PETER'S PAST PIRATE SHOWS
In 2004 and 2005, Peter's solo shows at PIRATE: A CONTEMPORARY ART OASIS offered something the Denver art scene hadn't seen before -- gigantic charcoal drawings of layered, dreamlike images that stretched around the gallery for more than 60 continuous feet. The response was phenomenal, and anyone who saw these shows will never forget them!
Summer 2005
THE LOGIC OF DREAMS
Peter's biggest show of the Summer 2005 was......THE LOGIC OF DREAMS... A solo show in the front gallery at Pirate (3659 Navajo in Denver)! The images above and below are both part of the giant 60+-foot LOGIC OF DREAMS piece.
Peter's show took place during the HISTORIC reconfiguration of the Denver gallery, so on the final weekend, we hosted THE RECONSTRUCTION: DECONSTRUCTION PARTY!
After more than 23 years in its current location, Pirate: A Contemporary Art Oasis underwent some major changes, as construction crews moved walls, doorways and more to reconfigure the space that had become a familiar part of Denver's art landscape.
Creating THE LOGIC OF DREAMS
A year in the making, Peter's epic epic drawing began as an idea, and evolved into a series of tiny thumbnail sketches. Each sketch was developed over time, and eventually drawn onto the final work.
The 61.5-ft drawing begins with a young woman sleeping and ends with her waking up the next day. What happens in between is Peter Illig's own brand of "neo-pop surrealism" magic...a look into the subconcious mind, where random images collide and it's up to the dreamer to interpret meanings and suggestions.
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Summer 2004
Shadows of a Dream |
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Before "The Logic of Dreams" in 2005, there was "Shadows of a Dream" in 2004. These images were part of that gigantic 60-ft-long charcoal piece, which formed the centerpiece of Peter's landmark LIFE ON EARTH show at Pirate: A Contemporary Art Oasis in Denver.
Peter explained it in his Artist's Statement....
"These drawings are analogies for human emotions and experiences. And thinking of several things at once.
Once upon a time, the task of the artist was to portray and interpret the "real world." 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.
Why does the material world pull at us? Why do we desire the physical? It is our essence; we seek the spiritual through it. The visible world is the key, the path, to the higher, more spiritual life we desire. But it is "desire" that clouds the seeking. I don't renounce matter but immerse myself to find the spiritual behind it.
I have been thinking about the 'inter-connectedness' of things, the Uncertainty Principle, the fact that there may be no 'deep reality' underneath the appearances of objects, that traces of distant stars are passing through us at this moment, that the charcoal (carbon) with which I am drawing was once a living thing.
Where does one object end and another begin? Where does one idea end and another begin to form? Can theory become visual? For some viewers these combinations of images will be irritating; for others they will come together in surprising ways. Meanings intersect and overlap.
It is a beautiful, dangerous, heroic, courageous, delicate, maddening, and heartbreaking thing, this Life on Earth."
 SOLD
partial installation view of SHADOWS OF A DREAM, 2004
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