NEW ROCHELLE, NY.- 3rd Rail Studio is excited to announce its upcoming exhibition Decades: A Peter Siegel Retrospective. With a succession of work from the 1970’s to present day, Peter Siegel’s paintings and drawings demonstrate an artistic career dedicated to pushing personal boundaries and evoking emotional expression.

While Peter Siegel was interested in abstract expressionism, German Expressionistic painters and artist groups such as The Blue Rider and The Fauves heavily influenced his work in the early 1970’s. Leon Golub, a major expressionistic figurative painter and Siegel’s teacher at Livingston College, encouraged Siegel to continue his art education at the Yale School of Art with expressionist figurative painter, Lester Johnson.

Alternating between abstract and figurative painting, Siegel “strived for simplified…linear figurative paintings in a colorful ‘abstract’ space.” He began to experiment with heightened color and vigorous gestural brush strokes. While living in NYC in the 1980’s Siegel’s figures gave way to heads and masks that eventually evolved into primitive-like creatures. His vigorous energy settled into repeating, rhythmic patterns.

By the mid 1990’s Siegel continued to paint expressionist figurative work with the inclusion of colorful abstract gestures. This eventually led to several series’ of color paintings where he explored individual colors such as red and yellow, ultimately painting-out the identifiable figurative elements. By early 2000, Siegel’s work began to combine several elements that were apparent in his earlier work. Numerous layers of figures and heads accompanied by energetic, expressive gestures of color and texture resulted in extremely rich and textured abstract imagery. While Siegel still identifies with expressionistic figurative painters, his current work eliminates any overt references to representation.

In Decades: A Peter Siegel Retrospective, 3rd Rail Studio is commemorating an artist’s life’s work spanning nearly forty years. It is Peter Siegel’s intention through this body of work to provoke an immediate, visceral response and to encourage a dialogue between the spectator and each painting. “This is our first retrospective exhibit at 3rd Rail Studio,” notes Executive Director Christine Milo. Milo added “It is exciting to see the progression of an artist’s career, especially of an artist who is so devoted to his craft and determined to push each piece to the edge of success.”

Decades: A Peter Siegel Retrospective opens September 15, with a free reception from 7:00-9:00PM which is open to the public. The exhibit runs from September 15 – October 13. Located in New Rochelle, NY, at 49 Plain Avenue, 3rd Rail Studio is easily accessible by Metro North train or car.

Decades featured artist: Peter Siegel, Mount Vernon, NY: Exhibited in the Netherlands as well as throughout the tri-state area. Most recently featured in the Best of Westchester Waterworks Exhibit in 2006 & 2007, at Iona College, in New Rochelle, NY. BA in Fine Art at Livingston College, Rutgers University. MFA in Painting and Drawing at Yale University School of Art.