peterposkas - Behnke • Doherty Gallery

The
AT M O S P H E R E
P E T E R
of
LIGHT
P O S K A S
PETER POSKAS
is one of the country’s pre-eminent
realistic painters working today.
He paints only what he observes,
imbuing his works with a sense of
intimacy that instantly connects the
viewer to the underlying humanity
of the scene. He often returns to
the same subject time after time,
capturing it at a different angle or
moment. Dividing his time between
Litchfield County, Connecticut and
Monhegan Island in Maine, rural
New England as it exists today is
his principle focus.
There are three core elements
in nearly every painting of Peter
Poskas: light, architecture and
human presence. In his hands,
these elements form the basis
for an extraordinarily nuanced
observation of the world around
him. Architecture serves to ground
his paintings. His Connecticut
farmhouses, barns, and shingled
homes on the coast of Maine
articulate the juncture of earth
and sky. Rooted in the land, they
pierce the sky and unify the two.
Architecture is equally
fundamental to the other two core
underpinnings of his work. White
clapboard facades and Adirondack
chairs both absorb and reflect light,
giving his paintings an immediacy
of time and season. Poskas captures
the essential moment that is dawn,
twilight or height of day. Nowhere
is this more evident than in his
rendering of white. The white of
snow or New England clapboard
is captured in an infinitely diverse
spectrum that instantly places the
viewer in an exact instant in time.
Likewise, architectural details
provide the link to human presence
in his paintings. People are rarely
directly present in his works,
but they are almost never absent.
Through buildings aged by time,
1
tracks in the snow, a vacant chair or
a well-worn path, the stories of the
people who live in his paintings are
alive and ever present.
Poskas is not interested in a
romantic or idealized vision of New
England past. His goal is to capture
the spirit and essence of the place
as it exists today. While the charm
of the nineteenth century pervades
his work, it is always suffused with
the reality of the moment. Time
- and light - are forever changing
and together present the artist with
unique new vistas to portray.
1 In the Lee
Oil on Panel
27 ¾” x 22 ½”
2 Legacy
Oil on Panel
20" x 28"
4 Spring Light, 5 Spring Light,
Hipp Farm
Oil on Panel
15” x 18 ½”
Johnson Farm
Oil on Panel
24 5/8” x 31 ¼”
3 Thanksgiving Eve
Oil on Panel
23 3/8” x 32 5/8”
6 First Light,
Johnson Farm
Oil on Panel
23 3/8” x 32 5/8”
2
3
5
4
6
P E T E R
P O S K A S
6 Green Hill, Washington Depot, CT 06794
860.868.1655
i nfo @ be h n ke d o h e r t y. c o m
www.BehnkeDoher tyGaller y.com