Peter Halasz | Silence: Quint Contemporary Art: 7547 Girard Avenue

Quint Gallery is pleased to present new oil paintings by San Diego-based artist PETER HALASZ. SILENCE is the first solo exhibition at Quint Gallery for Halasz. The opening reception is on Saturday, June 13th from 6-8pm and is open to the public; the artist will be in attendance.

“In these meticulously painted works, darkly layered atmospherics and inky blacks articulate elusive, mysterious settings and subtly shifting light conditions, while the landscape imagery, through insistent repetition, alludes to a psychologically charged and emotionally resonant space.” – Peter Halasz

SILENCE is a title well-suited to this series of paintings, as sound is visually muted by the artist's technique of painting subtle shifts of light with glazed layers of monochromatic colors with a focus on dark and dramatic nighttime seascapes. These melancholy atmospheres, with their minute attention to landscape contours, the movement of water and the capturing of time, are reminiscent of both early marine paintings by James Ensor and contemporary photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto. Nevertheless, the paintings have a style all on their own, taking a fresh look at an old subject. In addition to these large oil paintings, Halasz has produced a dramatic video composed of underwater visuals and music that combine to create a dark, foreboding moodiness. Also on exhibit are companion paintings to this video; blue-green abstract oils that replicate the fleeting light that Halasz has attempted to capture in his film. 

Peter Halasz addresses highly evocative subjects such as night landscapes and atmospheric realms drawing from the diverse traditions of Romantic painting, 19th century French Realism, and the California Light and Space movement. Halasz offers contemporary insight to seemingly traditional modes of representation. Halasz has been exhibited nationally at the Grand Rapids Museum of Art and at several galleries in Los Angeles, La Jolla and New York. His work in painting has been reviewed in publications such as Art Papers, the San Diego Union-Tribune, Art Scene, and Riviera Magazine.