Peter Walsh: Seven Treasures

Chicago artist, Peter Walsh, is exhibiting his new series of paintings, “Seven Treasures,” on Thursday, October 24 at a pop-up gallery space located in Logan Square at 2337 N. Milwaukee Avenue, from 6-9 p.m.

The series of paintings was directly inspired by Walsh’s visit to the recent Art Institute exhibition, Painting the Floating World: Ukiyo-e Masterpieces from the Weston Collection. Walsh commented, “I was particularly struck by the variety of traditional fabric patterns of the kimono shown in these 17th-19th century paintings.  I believe the creators of these colors and patterns are among the first artists to experiment with abstraction — some of these patterns may be over 300 years old, but they are as bold, graphic, and arresting as if they were created today.”

Using the Japanese fabric patterns as a creative prompt, Walsh created the 5’ H x 4’ W paintings starting with an abstract background, and building with separate pieces of painted canvas patterns, cut to size and hand-sewn on the background in the form of traditional kimono — similar to a patchwork quilt. Walsh explained, “When I am creating these I get totally absorbed in the process. I’ve learned that the paint is going to do what it wants, and I have to work with that. What I enjoy best is painting the patterns, chopping them up, and watching them come back to life in another form.”

In addition to the seven large oils, Walsh will also be exhibiting smaller kimono-themed watercolors and ink on paper works.