Spotlight Artist

Sonja Peterson

Midwest
Artist profile photo
Featured in New American Paintings

Artist Statement

My work is a puzzle that I create while trying to make sense of issues that are larger than life to me.

Drawn from landscapes I have encountered, it begins randomly, then progresses to a meditation on different sources, often political or environmental concerns. The slow process of cutting allows me time to untangle truths from layered connections.

I like to find the negative and either cut it out and get rid of it or twist it and play with it. The act of cutting out the negative gives a satisfaction of simplifying complexities that are out of ones reach. It is in a sense mapping a jumbled mind full of concerns for the entanglement of positive and negative, good and evil - the balance of power and energy. I know I am finished when the work operates of dual level- as a design of beauty that can also draw one into its complexities.

Artist's Additional works

Works shared by the artist outside of their featured New American Paintings selections

Featured artwork
Featured artwork

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