The gallery will be presenting a project space at Untitled, Art Miami Beach of artist Peter Gronquist
Visit Booth C56
In 2020, artist Peter Gronquist began a new series, unaware of the places it would take him. Inspired by a great personal trauma, Gronquist set out to portray the effects of severe emotional trauma onto the self. His idea was to explode slabs of polished stainless steel with ammonium nitrate, twisting the steel into amorphous shapes.
While the twisted slab hung from the ceiling one day in the studio, Gronquist observed a ray of sunlight reflected from the steel onto the wall, creating a phantasm of sorts. This led to an experiment that would take many months to perfect. By moving the steel into the studio bathroom and tarping out all light, the artist was able to create a makeshift darkroom. Not knowing anything about darkroom photography, Gronquist set out trying to figure out how to expose reflected light onto black and white photo paper. After agonizing over this process he was finally able to get the image to work using this process: one half second exposure with his iphone flashlight, then developer (thinned way down) and fixative. He then mounts the “photo” onto birch panel, applies resin, then sands finally to a matte finish.
