Bob Peck’s Pink Elephants

According to his third person press release for his latest exhibition, Bob Peck often felt abstraction was a scam. However, this has not deterred the him from using its visual vocabulary. The Elephant in the Room at the We Gallery in Akron exhibits work typical of the artist. Brightly colored canvases adorn the walls with bursts of movement that linger above broader strokes of splotchy color fields. From a distance, many of the works appear simple, but upon closer inspection intricate layers are detected that demonstrate a keen skill of mixing a variety of textures. Smooth thin lines appear to lift off of the surface with a more gritty brushwork and even flat spray paint underneath.

Bob Peck. Chain of Command

Striking works like Chain of Command, show Peck’s ability to direct the eye with repetition of form and delicate balance of varied line weight. What works particularly well in this piece is the use of negative space. While centrally composed, the image divides the paper into four quadrants, and leads the eye from left to right by shifting scale in a diamond like symmetry. Line quality is crisp and interwoven, relating back to the title of the work. A swift uplifting movement in cool blue breaks the chain in the middle of the page as the horizontal line trails off in green brushstrokes completing the rise and fall of its dramatic narrative.

Differences in quality vary between Peck’s canvases and works on paper. On paper he generally seems to be much more tight and purposeful in relating shape to negative space. However, several of his newer works on paper display odd placement, overcrowded line work, along with the interesting addition of staining. The canvases on the other hand are loose and often with rough paint quality sometimes exhibiting a sloppy painting technique with bold flat areas of color that don’t completely cover the primed canvas.

Bob Peck. The Simple Notion of 11:20

Several pieces do not work as well as others, and this is where a curator would have come in handy. The Simple Notion of 11:20 is one such painting. The color palette seems to have been a struggle for Peck, who is usually very adept at color selection. There is conflicting line work, compositional imbalance, muddled paint application, and awkward diagonals that make the painting a quagmire of shape and form. Every aspect of the work is in conflict, and not in a positive way.

The statement accompanying the exhibit says that Peck wasn’t just thinking outside the box, but that he had “torn the box into fragments and began gluing them back together into a new form.” Perhaps for this graffiti artist Abstract Expressionism never took place in the 1940’s through the ’60’s, but fortunately for the rest of the art world, it did. Peck’s paintings offer nothing new, least of all in form. Had he investigated the movement he thought of as a scam, perhaps he would have realized that his work recalls that of Jules Olitski among other artists in the canon. He also might begin to understand why they did the work and how it relates to his creative process. Hopefully it is a misunderstanding in the description of the exhibit that he opened up to a “less solid and more static frame of mind,” because there is nothing static about the movements needed to create what would be labeled as “action painting.” The motion of the artist’s mark is strongly felt in all the works, be it the slick glide of the pen or spay can, or the forceful stroke of the brush. Further, these marks often enhance one another, creating a strong direction in which the eye is forced to read the paintings.

In a recent interview, Peck notes that much of his work is created out of frustration, but it can seldom be seen in the end result. While the creation of the work may be emotionally charged, the lack of communicating that feeling to the viewer weakens the overall experience. This establishes a void that disconnects Peck from his admirers who have connected to a work believing they can empathize with the artist emotionally. The works then are seemingly about nothing. There is no content but technique, which he has perfected to a point where there is a lineage throughout his body of homogenized work. This is not necessarily a negative quality, as the Abstract Expressionists found how they communicated with marks most effectively and then repeated it throughout their careers. What is lacking in Peck’s work that they imbued in theirs is an existential exploration of personal experience.

To an extent, Peck does understand what he is doing. His work is based on method. He knows what pleases his fans and gives them what they want time and time again. What makes Peck’s work a success is its safeness. It owes its edginess to being labeled “urban graffiti turned fine art.” Overall the work, while colorful, is bland and thus perfectly suitable as background in upscale restaurants where it won’t offend the clientele. As “street art,” it is far from innovative, in style or technique. This brings about a sense of ease in those interested in the scene but not daring enough to go out and see the more controversial and ground breaking work being executed by artists like Cayman Robson and others who question traditional graffiti marks.

There is potential in Peck’s work which depends less on his willingness to experiment with technique, and more with his willingness to allow his work to make a statement. That he took the phrase “The Elephant in the Room” on which to base the work in the exhibit on does not come through, nor is it a very strong concept. His using someone’s remark that even an animal could do this work is not relevant enough to warrant building the exhibition in the fashion in which it is presented.

The exhibit runs from July 16th to the 27th at the We Gallery. To view more of the artist’s work visit his website, Wake Me When I’m Profound. For the time being however, Peck will remain asleep.