On view at albertz benda in New York through April 2 is “Cleon Peterson: Mr. Sinister.” Seen through black, white, grey, and red works by Peterson are his personal experiences with addiction, incarceration, social inequity, and stigmatization. Characters and monochromatic figures emboldened with menacing looks are seen holding, crushing, or embracing items—like keys, flowers, mirrors, and even the world—to reflect deeper meanings of violence, manipulation, brutality, and power.
“I started the show to tell a story of misunderstanding between two moral sides and how that space has many grey areas,” said Peterson. “As I worked, I realized that a third perspective was missing: modern man or the cynical voyeur. And how that fear-based perspective bleeds into all of our human experiences, how we see ourselves, how we see others, and how we define our personal and social duties within the world.”
