Peter D. Stephens (American, 1958- ) is a painter based in Buffalo, N.Y. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and attended the University of Siena in Italy (1978) and Rochester Institute of Technology (1976-78). He has been featured in solo shows at Nina Freudenheim Gallery (Buffalo), TUB Gallery (Miami), Zolla/Lieberman Gallery (Chicago), R. B. Stevenson Gallery (San Diego), Fenimore Art Museum (Cooperstown, N.Y.), Drabinsky & Friedlan Gallery (Toronto), and Bess Cutler Gallery (Los Angeles), among other venues. Stephens’s work is in several museum collections, including the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Burchfield-Penney, and the Castellani Art Museum in Western New York, as well as the Brooklyn Museum.
Artist Statement:
“In 2007 I was reading excerpts from the mission logs of the Apollo astronauts. That was the beginning of an idea to transform the concept of landscape painting by changing the frame of reference. Further readings in the history of Astronomy, Physics, and Cosmology have expanded the scope to include the structure and behavior of the material world at the extreme scales of the very large and the very small.
Beginning with NASA images from the Apollo missions, the trajectory then proceeded to the electronic images sent from satellites currently orbiting Mars. The Martian topographic images then evolved into computer manipulations and generative image transformations. This became the departure point from a concrete place to an increasingly conceptual space of layered matrices and components, essentially building abstract paintings with a system of given elements and the parameters to affect their change.”
Artist’s Website: peterdstephens.com
ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS:
2024- Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, New York. Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2023- Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Untitled Art, Miami Beach, Rivalry Projects solo presentation.
2022- Rivalry Projects, Buffalo, New York. Nuart Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
2020- David Richard Gallery, New York, New York.
2019- 1120 Projects, Buffalo, New York. Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2018- Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York. Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas.
2017- Sotheby's HOM, Newport Beach, California. Octagon Gallery, Patterson Library, Westfield, New York.
2016- Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2014- TUB Gallery, Miami, Florida. Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2012- Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2011- Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2010- Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art, Sarasota, Florida.
2009- Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2007- Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2006- Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2005- R. B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, California.
2004- Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2003- Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois. R. B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, California.
2002- Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2001- R. B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, California.
2000- Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
1999- R. B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, California.
1998- R. B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, California. Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York. Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
1997- Drabinsky & Friedland Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1996- Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York.
1995- Drabinsky &Friedland Gallery, Toronto, Canada. Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York. Marianne Friedland Gallery, Naples, Florida.
1994- Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York. Marianne Friedland Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
1992- Bess Cutler Gallery, Los Angeles, California. Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
1991- Bess Cutler Gallery, New York, New York.
1990- Bess Cutler Gallery, New York, New York.
1989- Member's Gallery, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
1988- Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York.
1986- Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected):
2024- Nuart Gallery, Los Angeles, California, In Pricipio.
2023- Kathryn Markel Fine Art, Bridgehampton, New York, Primary Colors.
2021- Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, Materiality. R.B. Stevenson Gallery, La Jolla, California, Juicy Fruit.
2018- Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, New York, At This Time.
2016- R. B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, California, Californians.
2015- Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York, Amid/In WNY.
2013- Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York, American Masters.
2011- Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Surveyor.
2010- R. B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, California, Just Enough. Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Silviculture.
2004- Zolla/ Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, There There.
2001- Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, New Acquisitions. R. B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, California, Mass Appeal.
2000- Willian D. Cannon Art Gallery, Carlsbad, California, Landscape Not Forgotten.
1999- Arnot Art Gallery, Elmira, New York, Re-Presenting Representation IV.
1997- Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, In Western New York 1997.
1995- Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York, 25th Anniversary. O'Hara Gallery, New York, New York, The Small Painting. Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Steve Keister, James Nelson,Scott Richter, Sean Scherer, Peter Stephens.
1994- Marianne Friedland Gallery, Toronto, Canada, New Directions.
1991- Nina Freudenheim Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Landscape-Seven Views.
1990- Bess Cutler Gallery, New York, New York, Critical Revisions. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 43rd Western New York Exhibition.
1989- Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Transformations in Landscape. Michael Walls Gallery, New York, New York, Invited Artists.
1988- Jayne Baum Gallery, New York, New York, Reconciling Modes: Painting Between Poesis and Logic. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 42nd Western New York Exhibition, Citibank Award.
1987- Hallwalls, Buffalo, New York. Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, The Wayward Muse: A Historical Survey of Painting in Buffalo.
1986- Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, New York State Artists Series.
1985- Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, In Western New York 1985.
1984- Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 40th Western New York Exhibition, Graphic Controls Corporation Award.
(Source: The artist’s website; Burchfield-Penney Art Center, “Peter D. Stephens”.)
