Peter Halley

His geometric paintings are made up of square and rectangular modules joined by lines, which he refers to as “cells” and “conduits”. On first glance, they appear to be abstracts, but his creations always use a figurative motif as a point of departure, a sort of schematic of prison cells, corridors, or computer systems. The overall theme is spaces that are enclosed upon themselves and schematics of circulation. His oeuvre is an exploration of the relationships between space, power and social organisation, in continuity with the theories of Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard. His colours are particularly bright and vibrant, contrasting with the severe lines of the drawing, and have an emotional significance. In addition to his activity as an artist, Halley was also the founder and editor of index magazine from 1996 to 2005, and served as Director of Graduate Studies in Painting and Printmaking at the Yale University School of Art. 

Since the mid-1990s, Halley has explored the relationship between a painting and its surrounding space. Designer Alessandro Mendini was working along the same lines through the creation of his objets and the two artists came together for the first time in 2008, at the  Massimo Minini Gallery in Brescia, Italy. They were able to continue this collaboration in 2014 for the Fondation Cartier's exhibition Mémoires Vives. Mendini created OMG!, a wall-objet conceived as a screen intended for Halley's work Code Warrior (1997), which is now held as part of the Fondation Cartier's permanent collection.