LA Artcore Gallery at the Union Center for the Arts is pleased to host a solo exhibit by Los Angeles artist Jon Peterson. This is the second survey of art works by the artist shown at the gallery, the first was in 2013.

In a personal quest for the authentic artist in the age of social media, Peterson returned to painting after a twenty year hiatus, starting with portraiture. First, using his friends and family as subjects, he expanded this practice to a re-examination of images from the newspaper, Internet, art books, and in 2011, a “found” portfolio of sketches by an artist known only as Phyllis T. In a published interview with writer, curator, artist Constance Mallinson, Peterson states, “Matisse's theory was that artists are born with an innate sensibility, and their whole career is dedicated to articulating that, to bringing out whatever it was that was imprinted on them when they were born. My “style appropriation” is a method to help me discover my own sensibility.”

Over the past twelve years, Peterson’s paintings developed their own unique style; paintings that begin with a grid or mapping on the canvas, then with an overlay of architectural, landscape or figurative imagery, combining diverse processes, and techniques. They hold for the viewer something of the familiar, visualized in a new way, intimating the presence of the artist.

Jon Peterson, known for his involvement with the early downtown LA art scene, and specifically as one of a group of artists in the late 70s called the 'Young Turks', received a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Fine Arts from Otis College of Art and Design. During that time, he had four solo exhibitions at Newspace in Los Angeles; in the 80s, he showed with the Protetch-Mcintosh Gallery in Washington D.C. and received a National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowship. His work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, and in 2017, he had a solo exhibition at the Long Beach Community College Art Gallery, curated by Trevor Norris. He has completed public art commissions in major cities, including Washington D.C., Houston, Texas, and Los Angeles, CA. Peterson has served on several boards of Los Angeles art organizations, including LACE, LARABA (Los Angeles River Arts and Business Association) and Inner City Arts. He was the President and founding member of Downtown Arts Development Association (DADA). Born in Stillwater, Minnesota in 1945, Peterson now lives and works in Pasadena, California.