Painting in Albuquerque

Mark Allen Peterson began painting in 2022 after moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Finding himself a bit stranded in a city where he knew no one — where it was too hot during the day for the boy from the Pacific Northwest and much too dangerous to go out at night — he began adapting to a life of virtual solitude.

The painting took over. One by one the apartment filled up with canvases everywhere: stacked on the floor, hanging from the closet doors, and covering the walls. About this time he began managing a commercial building and found himself with blank walls enough to hang 150 pieces in his first show.

Working primarily in acrylic, Mark builds each piece in layers of color and gesture. His paintings seem to create themselves, and as they emerge he is reminded of past times and places seemingly cemented in memory. As a painting hangs on the wall, they get to know each other, and he begins to see more behind the image.

Mark sees beauty in everything. Life, people and places are all perfectly imperfect. Marks art is the same...Perfectly Imperfect.