Peter Halley

The compositions of these works are digitally manipulated then printed on computer paper and painted by hand. Many are formative studies from which Halley’s paintings are realised in his signature pearlescent, Day-Glo and metallic paint. In place of the mechanical precision of his paintings the works on paper reveal a more direct and spontaneous approach to Halley’s working process. Halley’s starting point is a conception of geometry as a metaphor for society. The elements of his visual language are rectangular ‘cell’ units, linked by linear ‘conduits’, which in their complex diagrammatic structures are metaphors for aspects of the urban environment. The cell was originally conceived as a prison, as a critique or parody of idealist, formalist modernism. For Halley the motif of the cell has meanings that range from architectural spaces to its virtual application in cellular telephones and computers.