Peter Gronquist is an artist who manipulates expectations through a multi-disciplinary practice. Engaged with experimentation, Gronquist uses found objects, lights, mirrors, metals and new media. Through painting, sculpture, and infinity mirrors, he forces the viewer to stop and dismantle what they are experiencing. His infinity mirrors are built to human scale, heightening the sensation that one could fall in at any moment. In his paintings, Gronquist uses subtle graduations of color and plays with the foreground and background, creating depth, and the sense of glowing light from within. Often working with contractions, Gronquist expresses concern over American consumerism, excess and escapism, which appears in narrative and formal ways throughout his work.
Born 1979 in the USA, Gronquist lives and works in Portland, OR after residing in Oakland, CA. He attended the School of Visual Art New York and received a BA in painting from San Francisco Art Institute in 2001. He has exhibited in New York, London, Miami, and San Francisco. Gronquist's work has been published in GQ Magazine, Hyperallergic and Wired. He was recently named as one of the top 15 new artists to collect by Business Insider.
