ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Peter D. Gerakaris in studio w/ “Penumbra Tondo”

American interdisciplinary artist Peter D. Gerakaris creates vibrant paintings, public installations, and origami sculptures that engage nature-culture themes through a global lens. Raised a free-range child in New Hampshire, Gerakaris earned a BFA from Cornell University and an MFA from Hunter College where he received the Tony Smith Prize.

The artist’s works are showcased in various permanent institutional collections including the National Museum of Wildlife Art (Jackson, WY), NYC Department of Education, U.S. Department of State Art in Embassies Program in Gabon (Africa), Capital One, Citibank, and the Berkshire Botanical Garden (Stockbridge, MA), in addition to a spectrum of private collections around the globe such as Beth Rudin DeWoody, Joanna Fisher, and the William Lim Living Collection (Hong Kong, China).

Gerakaris has also created many large-scale public commissions awarded by Cornell Tech, The Surrey Hotel, Bergdorf Goodman, and the Berkshire Botanical Garden, in addition to a permanent public art commission through the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art Program spanning 116ft at PS101K (Brooklyn, NY).

Having received distinctions such as The Nature Conservancy’s Andy Warhol Preserve Residency Grant and the EcoArt Project Award, his artwork has been exhibited internationally at the Museum of Arts and Design, the Hudson River Museum, the Bronx Museum, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, the Whatcom Museum, the James Museum, the Bruce Museum, Wave Hill, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Google NYC, FX Collaborative, Chinese Contemporary (Beijing), various art fairs such as Scope and the Doors (Seoul), the National Academy of Fine Arts, and the Mykonos Biennale, while also being featured in publications like Architectural Digest, the Financial Times, the New York Times, and W Magazine.

The artist currently enjoys creating a wide range of site-specific and large-scale commissions for various private collections, while also preparing for upcoming solo projects and exhibits at public venues such as the Berkshire Botanical Garden. Additionally, Gerakaris has volunteered for two terms on Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, & Planning Alumni Advisory Council and is also an avid guitarist.

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ARTIST STATEMENT

Peter D. Gerakaris’ artwork tickles the retina and mind by filtering a broad array of Nature-Culture themes through a kaleidoscopic, global lens. In this space where nature and culture converge, the artist passionately seeks to bridge our profound disconnect with the environment. The artist’s distinctive visual language and interdisciplinary approach spans painting, murals, mosaics, large-scale public installations, works on paper, printmaking, and origami sculptures.

Whether synthesizing traditional gold leafing techniques with vibrant Byzantine-brushwork in the “Icon Series”, or rendering the illusion of collage by hand through his "AquaVerse", "Post-Pop Botanic", and "Mask" series, Gerakaris' work ultimately blurs analog-digital boundaries while harmonizing its hyper-graphic quality with a hand-painted and cerebral touch.

Meticulously rendered in a signature style of vibrant coloration and form, recurring motifs include endangered and exotic flora/fauna such as pollinators, owls and various avian creatures, orchids, aquatic life, and more — all culled from extensive research, travel, and experience. The artist’s dynamic use of color is essential to his work: it arouses feeling and tension by pushing the limits of our color perception beyond the boundaries of pictorial composition. Often evoking our terrestrial, aquatic, and cosmic frontiers, the artist constructs imagery like a phantasmagorical collage to represent society’s fragmented relationship with the environment. The complex layering of motifs that form each holistic artwork functions like a glue that seeks to mend this Nature-Culture divide.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

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