gallery contact: www.plusgallery.com

My art works are analogies for human emotions and experiences - American psychological landscapes -
reflecting how we think of several things at once. The multiple images are borrowed from popular culture sources:
film, television, cyberspace and my own experiences, layered like a coded language of symbols to express ideas and feelings.
My work embodies realist traditions, as well as surrealist.

Centuries ago, 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. The act of drawing and painting may also be seen as erotic. By immersing
ourselves in the physical and material world, we may see the path to a higher realm, and find the spiritual meaning
behind physical objects.

My work seeks to reveal how these objects intersect and overlap. My mind sifts through a pastiche of images,
creating a two-way dialog between past and present, order and chaos, art and everyday life. Where does one
object ends and another begin? Where does one idea end and another begin?

Like changing television channels, or surfing the web, images move like a sliding puzzle, a grid work of cultural meanings -
elusive, oblique references, innuendo, erotic symbolism, implications, metaphors, unclear boundaries, non sequiturs, incongruities, romantic ideas.

PETER J. ILLIG
2055 Race St.
Denver, Colorado USA 80205
Phone: 303-913-0973
e-mail: babylonart@aol.com

E D U C A T I O N

Master of Humanities 1996, University of Colorado, Denver.
Bachelor of Science, Art Education 1980, Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY.

E X H I B I T I O N S and A W A R D S

Selected Solo Shows:

2010
Redux: Logic of Dreams, Hinterland Gallery, Denver, Colorado

2008
Full Fathom Five, Plus+Gallery , Denver, Colorado

2007
Porn Star Passion Play, Pirate – Contemporary Art, Denver
Mysteries of Babylon, Spark Gallery, Denver

2006
Popular Mechanics, Pirate - Contemporary Art, Denver
DIALOG: 21, Spark Gallery, Denver

2005
The Logic of Dreams, Pirate - Contemporary Art Denver
First Person Future Tense, Two artist show, Plus+Gallery, Denver

2004
Life on Earth, Pirate - Contemporary Art, Denver

2003
Proximity, Pirate, Denver

2001
The End of History, Pirate, Denver

2000
The Secret Life of Men, Pirate, Denver
American Inverse, Two-artist show. Dairy Center for the Arts, Boulder, Colorado

1997
Man Woman Image Text, CORE New Art Space, Denver
Conflicting Views, Fine Arts Gallery, University of Colorado, Denver

Selected Group Shows:

2010
"Excellencies" Show, Plus+Gallery, Denver, Colorado

2009
Everybody Loves a Train Wreck, Art Students League Invitational, Denver, CO

2007
Surprise, Plus+Gallery, Denver, Colorado
Denver Modernism Show, featured artist

2005
Figure Painting Invitational, Emmanuel Gallery, Auraria Campus, Denver
CAEA Art Exhibition, Philip J Steele Gallery, Denver (Best in Show Award)

2004
Group Show 2 Biennial, Studio Aiello Gallery, Denver
Pirate Members’ Show, Pirate - Contemporary Art, Denver

2003
Gallery Sovereign Show, Boulder, Colorado
Cooperative Gallery Retrospective, Art Students League, Denver, Colorado

2002
Studio Aiello Inaugural Juried Show, Studio Aiello, Denver
Rocky Mountain Biennial, Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, Ft. Collins, CO
All Colorado Art Show, Curtis Center for the Arts, Greenwood Village (Juror’s Award)
The Man Show, CORE New Art Space, Denver
Side by Side, Fresh Art Gallery, Denver

2001
The Figure in American Art, 1950-2000, Center for Visual Arts, Denver
Melánge: Pirate Artists' Show, Viridian Gallery, New York, NY
The Dream Mill, Lakewood Cultural Arts Center, Lakewood, Colorado
Opening Show, Sandra Phillips Fine Arts, Basalt, Colorado
All Colorado Art Show, Curtis Center for the Arts, Greenwood Village, Colorado

2000
Real to Surreal, Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, Colorado
Colorado 2000, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs (Award of Merit)
20th Anniversary Members Show, Pirate - Contemporary Art, Denver

1999
Chairs! Chairs! Chairs! Exhibition. Center for Visual Arts, Denver
The Timeless Body, On-line Exhibition at PaintingsDirect.com, New York, NY
CORE Supporting Members' Show, CORE New Art Space, Denver
Colorado Open Exhibition, Foothills Art Center, Golden, Colorado
Woman: Face/Place, Women's Art Center and Gallery, Denver
ILK Co-op Gallery, National Juried Show, Denver
Metropolitan State College Art Faculty Exhibitions, Center for Visual Arts,
and Emmanuel Gallery, Denver
All Colorado Art Show, Curtis Center for the Arts, Greenwood Village, Colorado

P U B L I C A T I O N S

Kimberly Graham, Colorado Modern magazine: Peter Illig, Portraitist of  Society’s Soul, February 2004.

Sonya Ellingboe, Littleton Independent: Peter Illig, Artist Juggling Many Canvases,
August 21, 1997.

Michael Paglia, Westword: Artbeat, June 16, 2005, Dec. 2005.
Reviews: LIFE ON EARTH, July 29, 2004
Sex in the City, August 15, 2002.
Artbeat, August 10, 2000. Sit On It, June 16, 1999.
Artistic Democracy, September 3, 1998.

Mary Chandler, Rocky Mountain News: Critics' Choice (reviews): July 15, 2005, July 31, 2004, August 1, 2002, August 18, 2001, August 13, 2000.

Jeff Bradley, Denver Post: Variety in Media (review), August 27, 1999.

J. Gluckstern, Boulder Camera: "Real to Surreal examines fringes of the possible” (review), January 2, 2000.

P R O F E S S I O N A L E X P E R I E N C E

Art Instructor, Heritage High School, Littleton, Colorado (1981-2001).
Theatre Tech asst. director.
Chaparral High School, Parker, Colorado (2001-2002).
Rangeview High School, Aurora, Colorado, Dept. Chair (2002-2006).
Adjunct Art Professor, Drawing, Metropolitan State College, Denver (1999-2000).
Professor of Painting, Rocky Mountain College of Art+Design, Denver (2009-2010).

A F F I L I A T I O N S

Denver Art Museum 1986 - present
Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver (Member) 1999 - 2005
Pirate - Contemporary Art (Member, curator) 1999 - 2008
Colorado Art Education Association 1986-1997, 2003-2006 (Board Representative)
Spark Gallery cooperative, Denver 2004-2007

R E P R E S E N T A T I O N