Joshua Petker’s eccentric colors mesmerize. His women are mysteriously pensive yet sassy, and his whiskful brush strokes transport his viewers to a fantasy land full of timelessly beautiful women, unicorns, skulls, castles and temptresses in glittery bubblegum pink, velvet black and hot orange.

Shooting Gallery featured Petker in March 2008, his second solo show covered the walls with “pretty” pictures revealing darker undertones. This was our first chance to marvel at his works in person, falling in love with several pieces, unsurprisingly sold by our arrival opening night.

Petker’s details are what bring you in and trap you. They make you want to keep looking, often times returning as if you missed something and filling in the empty spaces to complete the story. These details: glossy patches, sparkling paints, and gold leaf recall a slight connection to Klimpt, moving with you as you walk by. The mixture of bold lines and quick suggestive strokes add to the feeling of Petker’s fantasy lands.

In college, Petker studied history in pursuit of a degree in biblical archeology. This, along with inspiration from renaissance artists all attribute to the romantic “old world” references in his work. As a fine-artist, Petker is proud to be self taught and attributes his bright pallet and knowledge of color theory to his previous indulgence as a graffiti artist. As in graffiti, his paint is applied in layers directly, working with the colors that he has available at the moment.

Tags: Fantasy, Painter, Portraits, Women

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 1:49 am and is filed under Rising Artists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.