| peter maslow: paintings |
| Peter Maslow is currently exhibiting a series of paintings at the Egon Schiele Art Museum in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic, in an exhibition including Keith Haring. On view through October 2007. |
Before coming to Cesky Krumlov I had only known Prague, and perhaps Brno a
little, but nothing else of the Czech lands. I am somewhat familiar with the
history of the region, having spent a fair amount of time in Poland and Hungary.
Having visited Prague a half dozen times before, I came into Krumlov (a small
Renaissance town a few hours south of Prague on a turn in the Vltava River) well
aware of the sweeping architectural history of Prague, and unsure of what to
think of this sleepy little castle town. So unlike Prague, where you can't help but
notice all the contrasting architectural styles swept along in conflagration, almost
as violent manifestations of national identity warring with international forces
(international styles). With this in mind, Renaissance Krumlov has only one true
style. It does not have this intrinsic embattled feel to it. It is well protected from
any outside forces by the almost encircling castle Krumlov.
In the positive sense it felt cloistered, in the negative, festered. I was dealing
here with a timeless place, without the aforementioned contrasts which I am so
used to treating in my paintings. I had three to four weeks to put this all
together. I spread out a one meter by fifteen meter length of heavy water color
paper on the walls of my studio and got going. Needing the contrast missing in
the lack of confrontational historical forces, I turned to the flooding of the Vltava
River in 2002. Krumlov was inundated. I worked from pictures and tales and
what is easily imagined: the small, winding, narrow streets under water.
The flood water as this primordial muck holding the city from the pull of
modernity; the castle guarding the Renaissance inheritance from the Soviet
blocks outside; and the catastrophe, for a New Yorker comparable to 9/11, as a
reminder of ultimate consequence of worldly involvement. Enjoy.
| Oil on Paper, 36" x 90" |
| Oil on Paper, 36" x 76" |
| Oil on Paper, 36" x 104" |
| Oil on Paper, 36" x 80" |
| Oil on Paper, 36" x 68" |
| Oil on Paper, 36" x 60" |