David E. Peterson (born 1979, United States) is an abstract painter whose work has been exhibited extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. His work is included in several public, corporate and private collections including the Museum of New Art, Detroit; Progressive Art Collection, Ohio; Bilzin and Sumberg, Miami; Home Depot Headquarters, Atlanta; and Jorge Perez’s Related Group, Miami. Peterson’s work has been featured in the media including Forbes, Loft Magazine, Southern Living, CNN, New York Times, New York’s Arts Magazine, Huffington Post, Detroit Free Press, Studio Visit, and New American Paintings #112. Peterson holds a BFA degree from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit; he lives and works in Atlanta.

The materials that I use are extremely important to me, types of wood, different paints and a variety of finishes. The selection of the building material, constructing the object, applying the paint, and the application of the finish are all essentially equal to me. Before I fabricate a piece, I always have a set of rules that I create to play games with color, line, shape, scale, and finish. Conceptually, the work is a reference to my environment of industrial design goods and luxury fashion.

Leaners: The Leaner series was started in 2013 and is still active. Falling in love with the leaning object; the Leaners are in reference to John McCracken’s Planks, Anne Truitt’s standing sculptures, the slabs of wood leaning at the wood store, and vintage wooden surfboards leaning against a wall. The Leaners are simply beautiful pieces of wood gently leaning against the wall. The wood grain is juxtaposed against color fields and pin stripes. The color fields and pin-stripes are taken from various sources within industrial design and luxury fashion that I have documented over time. The edges are mitered at 45 degrees to create an illusion of thickness (Synthetic vs Nature) Puzzles: The Puzzle series was started in 2009 and is still active. After constructing pieces for the By Manufacturer series, I found myself with a collection of scrap wood. I started building smaller structures with the scraps and arranging them together in multiple sections. Breaking out of the rectangle and square for a surface to paint on, the Puzzles are multi-dimensional and can be flipped and rearranged. The wood grain is juxtaposed against color fields and pin stripes that are taken from various sources within industrial design and luxury fashion. (Synthetic vs Nature)

By Manufacturer: The By Manufacturer was started in 2008 and ended in 2013. This series is informed by industrial design and luxury fashion. Inspiration might come from a brightly-colored sneaker, an eye-catching dress, an intricate watch or a well-arranged print ad. Once my interest is captured, I immediately begin translating the design into my work. I begin the process by systematically identifying the most important elements of the industrial design. I am looking at color, line, shape, scale, and finish. These key traits are broken down, then reconstructed as the foundation for my own composition in Photoshop. This computer rendering becomes my mock-up and I refer to it as I build my panel, paint it and apply the finish. My studio becomes an artist’s assembly line; the end result is a precise Art Object.

Semi-Trucks: The Semi-Truck series was a fun deconstruction project that resulted in a series of 71 drawings from 2010 – 2014. In 2009 and 2010, I did a lot of driving from Atlanta to NYC, Miami and Detroit. I started noticing the colors and graphics on Semi-Trucks and decided to make a series of drawings about Semi-Trucks. I specifically looked at the color of the cab, color of the trailer and the color and shapes of the graphics.You might talk about your origin story, your team, highlight awards or recognitions, or share photos. Tap into your creativity. You’ve got this. The way you tell your story online can make all the difference.