Peter Van Dyke

ARTIST STATEMENT

I work in the tension between structure and disruption. Each work is an experiment in process. I don’t start with a style; I start with a question. What happens if I add structure into chaos? How do I paint a face that moves between detail and ambiguity?

Once I’ve got the question, the studio becomes a lab. I test, tweak and rebuild. I carry these techniques and discoveries into the next piece.

I return to portraits often because faces are neurologically loaded. We’re wired to decode them, project onto them and assume entire narratives from a glance.

What connects the work is an underlying logic, a restless curiosity that keeps moving.

BIOGRAPHY

Peter Van Dyke is an American painter, printmaker and musician based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Peter holds a BFA in painting from the University of Wisconsin, where he studied under Mary Barrett and Walter Nottingham. His professional career also spans illustration, User Centered Design and teaching.