Jonathan Peyser

Conversation on
Atlantic Avenue

June 20-July 15

Wall mounted sculpture in high relief: unique.

Leather on brushed metal.

60"x20"x9"

The artwork is the sculptural interpretation of an overheard Semitic-language conversation (perhaps Arabic).

According to the artist,  “I know neither the dialect the two men were speaking nor the meaning, but the words and intonations sounded rich, so I set out to visualize them.”  The sculpture you see here is what came forth.

Like many of the artist’s sculptures, “Conversation on Atlantic Avenue” evokes imagined hand-worked, high-relief words or calligraphy.  It conveys strikingly sensual and energetic tropes of linguistic prosody which are often depicted as variations in rhythm, stress and inflection.

Jonathan Peyser, who studied English and history at the University of Rochester, has been sculpting for 20 years.  He served as Curator of Public Art for New York in three New York City administrations.  His art is included in collections in New York,  Barcelona, Paris, Istanbul and Hong Kong, among others.