Spring Song 1

'Spring Song I,' by Peter Healy, Oil Painting on Canvas

A cool light blue/gray color field dotted with light orange splattered dots provide the perfect backdrop for Peter Healy's bold organic forms of varying colors and shapes. The forms seem to dance in space with the song of springtime and are reminiscent of abstracted flowers and birds interacting with one another. Dark blue, turquoise, peach and red are the dominant colors of the larger organic forms.

Peter Healy is an Irish artist with a background in illustration. These days he works in series and also individual paintings, drawings, and assemblage. His mediums are oil paint, acrylic, ink, pencil, collaged fabric, assembled wood and various 3d objects and paper. “I try to let ideas come to me and sometimes let the pieces speak to me through their creation using editing as part of the process. They are usually colorful and often try to illustrate the contrast of living in the sparsely populated Fermanagh countryside of my youth, and living in the city with a diverse population,” said Healy.

Peter has lived in Ireland, England, Amsterdam and Los Angeles and now calls Houston, Texas home where he lives with his wife and two daughters. “These experiences and diverse populations have influenced my work. There are so many ways to represent population architecture and nature, that I am constantly going between mediums to describe these relationships.”-- Peter Healy

“A lot of the time the shapes in my paintings and drawings are like characters or individuals trying to coexist in a space on canvas or paper, just like we do in cities. In some series I am with the viewer looking through a window or down a tunnel at forms floating in space. Sometimes the shapes go off the edge; I want the viewer to think “What's around the corner?”, much like we all wonder what’s around the next corner in our everyday lives. I am interested in relationships between the objects I make, movement, landscapes or environments, composition and space.

My assemblage work is all about collaging 2d/ 3d forms. A lot of the time its about reusing wood and material to give it a second life. It’s like making a jigsaw puzzle whilst inventing the pieces. When hurricanes happen there is so much material ruined. I wanted to find a way to reuse it and mix it with drawing or painting. It also gives me the opportunity to make unusual shapes.

In general, I always love getting lost in paintings, so I want the viewer to do the same. I want to make work that takes people away. The landscapes I looked out across over the years always make me think of the road ahead, distance not yet covered and the possibilities for the future. I try to emulate that feeling in my work.” – Peter Healy