FROM THE PR TEAM: PROFESSIONAL & POLITE
Peter Shire (b. 1947, Los Angeles, CA)
Peter Shire is a Fine Artist, a Painter, a Sculptor, a Potter, a Craftsman, a Furniture Maker, and a Designer of Interiors and Fantasy Structures. He is simultaneously interested in creating functional objects and impossible objects. His work eludes all attempts at categorization and renders the traditional labels obsolete.
Shire was born in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, where he still lives and works. His work can be found throughout much of Los Angeles as Shire is imbued with the ethos of the city. A prime example being his installation “Angel’s Point,” which sits atop Elysian Park along the Chavez Ravine overlooking Dodger Stadium and Downtown—encapsulating Los Angeles from a post-modern vantage point among the palm trees, smog, and other Los Angeles landmarks.
Shire studied at Chouinard Art Institute, now Cal Arts, in the 1960s, under Ralph Bacerra and Adrian Saxe, whose influence can be seen in the levels of whimsy and contemplation that play into Shire’s own practice. His interest in Pattern and Decoration, a movement from the 1970s and 80s, brought to his work an amalgamation of decorative and folk-art traditions. His interest in clay started early on and was grounded by predecessors like John Mason, Ken Price, Ron Nagle, and Peter Voulkos, who all liberated the medium from its practical applications.
In 1977, Ettore Sottsass spotted Shire’s work in the new-wave magazine WET and invited him to visit Milan. While in Italy, Shire became a founding member of MEMPHIS, the radical design collective. During this time, Shire’s very specific language found light and his practice became global.
Shire has a vast exhibition record, having shown his work throughout much of the world at such places as Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Jewish Museum, New York; Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Gallery Saito, Japan; among others. His work can be found in museum collections such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Stedlijk Museum, the Netherlands; Total Contemporary Art Museum, South Korea; and the Victoria and Albert Museum, United Kingdom, among others.
FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH: RABBLE ROUSER/REBEL
By my next birthday, December 27, 2021, I will have been alive for 27,000 days. Presuming I knew how to tie my shoes by the time I was three, I've tied or buckled my shoes at least 25,000 times, more or less. So far, I have done:
• Over 150 solo shows and over 300 group shows (some great, some really questionable).
• I am in the collection of over 50 museums (some really prestigious, some you’ve never heard of).
• For the past 55 years, from the age of 16—when I made a deal with my high school ceramic teacher, Anthony Scaccia—I’ve worked on this thing we call ART for 40 hours a week minimum.
Some people say at my age it’s time to quit. I say, throw the dynamite because the fuse is lit.
