Peter Mars
Biography & Works
Peter Mars' works are commonly included in exhibits of other noteworthy contemporary artists Keith Haring, Banksy, Andy Warhol, Shepard Fairey, Jean-Michel
Basquiat, etc.
Peter Mars (born 1959 in Portland, Oregon) is an American artist with ties to both the Pop Art and Outsider Art movements. Mars attended Reed College, a small
private college in Portland, Oregon from 1977 to 1982, earning a degree in chemistry. In 1982, Mars moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. He lived and worked in the French Quarter during the mid-1980s. It was there that he learned printmaking while working in the silkscreen studio of the New Orleans Contemporary Arts
Center.
Mars’ paintings incorporate the use of silkscreen or serigraphy (from the French words for "silk writing") on various mediums including wood, canvas, and paper.
In the tradition of Pop Art, mechanical repetition plays an important part in Mars’ work. He is known for completing his paintings in series, where the same image
appears, each time within a slightly different context. His works inspired by popular culture including everyday objects like old signs, billboards, match packs, TV shows, candy wrappers, and wallpaper.
Peter Mars was named an official artist of Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2008. In 2011, his exhibit ELVIS ran at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Inspired by wallpaper, candy wrappers, billboards and match packs, this influential American Pop Artist has been painting for more than 35 years. Mars' colorful, quirky artworks disrupt predictable interpretation, and transform the ordinary things we see every day into entirely new experiences that tickle the senses, and delight the child inside. Using the joy and nostalgia found in everyday objects, Peter Mars explores popular culture, the passage of time, and the icons that each period adopts as its own. His works form a running commentary on global popular culture.
Much of Mars' work reflects the American pop culture of his childhood in the 1960s and 70s, notably the idealized American family, comic book figures, television and space age inventions. "I loved TV shows like Lost in Space, and Fireball XL-5. I particularly liked the robot on Lost in Space, and wanted my own robot like that. I remember how thrilled I was when President Kennedy came on TV and promised us that soon we would each have our own personal robot and how we were going to have robots to walk the dog and everything! I couldn't wait to grow up so I could start to work with my robot. When that didn't happen, I was sad."
Born in Portland, Oregon in 1959, Peter Mars began a lifetime of collecting…matchbooks, comic books, baseball cards, arrowheads, coins, and old porcelain
signs. In each one of these items Mars finds a beauty. And small treasures that tell the story of American life. His collection now forms a sort of library of images and colors, many drawn from vintage advertising material. Pop bottles, vintage toys, and old catalogues, litter the shelves of his studio and home. Employing silkscreen as his medium of choice, Mars engages his subject matter in a way that lets images speak their own language. In juxtaposition, they agree or disagree, emphasize or interrupt, as if in animated conversation. The result is a textured, and complex commentary, wry and always more than the sum of its parts. "Right away I loved the feeling of working with silk and ink and that sense of excitement never seems to fade. I love the high spinning sound you hear when you pull the ink across the silk. But most of all, I love that final breathtaking moment when you lift the screen from the canvas and the image appears, as if by magic!" "If you look at the collaborations between Warhol and Basquiat, you will understand what my art is about. In the mid-to-late 80s, with the death of these two leaders, I felt this was my place. Like the trail of breadcrumbs left by the advance party, these previous explorers had ventured just so far into the unexplained wilderness and the next generation of Pop Artists would need to start from where they left off. Pop culture continued to explode in a thousand new directions and I was coming up right behind this and I told myself to start at the end of their trail. This was and is Pop Art. My goal was to simply carry on with the troops. And continue to march into unknown territory. As with any venture or quest… you have to be fearless in order to accomplish great things."
2016
Mars Gallery, Chicago, IL
Revel Art Space, Chicago IL
Taglialatella Galleries, New York, NY
2015
Off The Wall Gallery, Houston, TX
Scope Art Fair, Miami Beach, FL
Taglialatella Galleries, New York, NY
2014
Red Dot Art Fair, Miami, FL
Mars Gallery, Chicago, IL
R. Pela Contemporary, Phoenix, AZ
2013
Off The Wall Gallery, Houston, TX
Pop International, New York, NY
Firecat Projects, Chicago, IL
2012
Angela King Gallery - New Orleans, LA
Art Palm Beach - West Palm Beach, FL
Exhibitions Gallery - Wellington, NZ
Galerie Züger - Dallas, TX
Off The Wall - Houston TX
Linton & Kay Fine Art - Perth, AU
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Michael Hertrich Art + Frame - Pittsburgh, PA
Onessimo Gallery - West Palm Beach, FL
Palm Springs Fine Art Fair - Palm Springs, CA
Pop Gallery - Orlando, FL
Pop International - NYC
Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery - Sydney, AU
2011
Angela King Gallery - New Orleans, LA
Beverly Art Center – Chicago, IL
Cutter & Cutter Fine Art - St. Augustine, FL
Cool Globes 2011 Westerpark Amsterdam
Clinton Presidential Center - Little Rock, AK
Linton & Kay Contemporary - Perth AU
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Off The Wall Gallery - Houston TX
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery - Sydney AU
2010
Museum of Contemporary Art - Chicago, IL
Fingerhut Gallery - Laguna Beach, CA
Off The Wall Gallery - Houston TX
LaFond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Linton & Kay Contemporary - Perth AU
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
P & C Fine Art - Washington DC
Pop Gallery - Orlando, FL
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery - Sydney AU
2009
The Columbia Yacht Club - Chicago, IL
Discovery Green - Houston, TX
Hanson Gallery of Sausalito, CA
Jay Etkin Gallery - Memphis, TN
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Liss Gallery - Toronto, Ontario, CA
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Maison Rouge Gallery - Chicago, IL
Noel-Baza Fine Art - San Diego, CA
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Water Street Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
2008
The Field Museum - Chicago, IL
The Kennedy Center - Washington, D.C.
Hallmark Galleries - Rancho Mirage, CA
Hanson Gallery of Sausalito, CA
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Liss Gallery - Toronto, Ontario, CA
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Maison Rouge Gallery - Chicago, IL
Noel-Baza Fine Art - San Diego, CA
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
San Diego Natural History Museum - CA
Crissy Field Center, Presidio - SF, CA
Water Street Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
2007
Hallmark Galleries - Rancho Mirage, CA
Hanson Gallery of Sausalito, CA
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Liss Gallery - Toronto, Ontario, CA
Louis Aronow Galleries - San Francisco, CA
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Maison Rouge Gallery - Chicago, IL
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Steven DeBottis Gallery - West Chester, PA
The Art Trust - West Chester, PA
2006
Hallmark Galleries - Rancho Mirage, CA
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Liss Gallery - Toronto - Ontario, CA
Louis Aronow Galleries - San Francisco, CA
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Steven DeBottis Gallery - West Chester, PA
2005
Hallmark Galleries - Rancho Mirage, CA
International Art Exposition - Toronto, CA
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Louis Aronow Galleries - San Francisco, CA
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Steven DeBottis Gallery - West Chester, PA
ThirdStone Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
2004
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Louis Aronow Galleries - San Francisco, CA
Richmond/Ermet Foundation - SF, CA
Steven DeBottis Gallery - West Chester, PA
ThirdStone Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
2003
ThirdStone Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
Peligro Gallery - New Orleans, LA
1994
Art and Artists - Washington, DC
Peligro Gallery - New Orleans, LA
ThirdStone Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
1987
Dinnerware Gallery - Tucson, AZ
East Ashland Gallery - Phoenix, AZ
G.V.G. Gallery, Houston - TX
Peligro Gallery - New Orleans, LA
1986
Contemporary Arts Center - New Orleans, LA
Diverse Works - Houston, TX
East Ashland Gallery - Phoenix, AZ
G.V.G. Gallery - Houston, TX
Kisker Fine Art - Scottsdale, AZ
Peligro Gallery - New Orleans, LA
X-Art Gallery - New Orleans, LA
1985
Contemporary Arts Center - New Orleans, LA
G.V.G. Gallery - Houston, TX
Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Arts - NO, LA
X-Art Gallery - New Orleans, LA
1984
Contemporary Arts Center - New Orleans, LA
Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Arts - NO, LA
X-Art Gallery - New Orleans, LA
Basquiat, etc.
Peter Mars (born 1959 in Portland, Oregon) is an American artist with ties to both the Pop Art and Outsider Art movements. Mars attended Reed College, a small
private college in Portland, Oregon from 1977 to 1982, earning a degree in chemistry. In 1982, Mars moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. He lived and worked in the French Quarter during the mid-1980s. It was there that he learned printmaking while working in the silkscreen studio of the New Orleans Contemporary Arts
Center.
Mars’ paintings incorporate the use of silkscreen or serigraphy (from the French words for "silk writing") on various mediums including wood, canvas, and paper.
In the tradition of Pop Art, mechanical repetition plays an important part in Mars’ work. He is known for completing his paintings in series, where the same image
appears, each time within a slightly different context. His works inspired by popular culture including everyday objects like old signs, billboards, match packs, TV shows, candy wrappers, and wallpaper.
Peter Mars was named an official artist of Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2008. In 2011, his exhibit ELVIS ran at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. Inspired by wallpaper, candy wrappers, billboards and match packs, this influential American Pop Artist has been painting for more than 35 years. Mars' colorful, quirky artworks disrupt predictable interpretation, and transform the ordinary things we see every day into entirely new experiences that tickle the senses, and delight the child inside. Using the joy and nostalgia found in everyday objects, Peter Mars explores popular culture, the passage of time, and the icons that each period adopts as its own. His works form a running commentary on global popular culture.
Much of Mars' work reflects the American pop culture of his childhood in the 1960s and 70s, notably the idealized American family, comic book figures, television and space age inventions. "I loved TV shows like Lost in Space, and Fireball XL-5. I particularly liked the robot on Lost in Space, and wanted my own robot like that. I remember how thrilled I was when President Kennedy came on TV and promised us that soon we would each have our own personal robot and how we were going to have robots to walk the dog and everything! I couldn't wait to grow up so I could start to work with my robot. When that didn't happen, I was sad."
Born in Portland, Oregon in 1959, Peter Mars began a lifetime of collecting…matchbooks, comic books, baseball cards, arrowheads, coins, and old porcelain
signs. In each one of these items Mars finds a beauty. And small treasures that tell the story of American life. His collection now forms a sort of library of images and colors, many drawn from vintage advertising material. Pop bottles, vintage toys, and old catalogues, litter the shelves of his studio and home. Employing silkscreen as his medium of choice, Mars engages his subject matter in a way that lets images speak their own language. In juxtaposition, they agree or disagree, emphasize or interrupt, as if in animated conversation. The result is a textured, and complex commentary, wry and always more than the sum of its parts. "Right away I loved the feeling of working with silk and ink and that sense of excitement never seems to fade. I love the high spinning sound you hear when you pull the ink across the silk. But most of all, I love that final breathtaking moment when you lift the screen from the canvas and the image appears, as if by magic!" "If you look at the collaborations between Warhol and Basquiat, you will understand what my art is about. In the mid-to-late 80s, with the death of these two leaders, I felt this was my place. Like the trail of breadcrumbs left by the advance party, these previous explorers had ventured just so far into the unexplained wilderness and the next generation of Pop Artists would need to start from where they left off. Pop culture continued to explode in a thousand new directions and I was coming up right behind this and I told myself to start at the end of their trail. This was and is Pop Art. My goal was to simply carry on with the troops. And continue to march into unknown territory. As with any venture or quest… you have to be fearless in order to accomplish great things."
2016
Mars Gallery, Chicago, IL
Revel Art Space, Chicago IL
Taglialatella Galleries, New York, NY
2015
Off The Wall Gallery, Houston, TX
Scope Art Fair, Miami Beach, FL
Taglialatella Galleries, New York, NY
2014
Red Dot Art Fair, Miami, FL
Mars Gallery, Chicago, IL
R. Pela Contemporary, Phoenix, AZ
2013
Off The Wall Gallery, Houston, TX
Pop International, New York, NY
Firecat Projects, Chicago, IL
2012
Angela King Gallery - New Orleans, LA
Art Palm Beach - West Palm Beach, FL
Exhibitions Gallery - Wellington, NZ
Galerie Züger - Dallas, TX
Off The Wall - Houston TX
Linton & Kay Fine Art - Perth, AU
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Michael Hertrich Art + Frame - Pittsburgh, PA
Onessimo Gallery - West Palm Beach, FL
Palm Springs Fine Art Fair - Palm Springs, CA
Pop Gallery - Orlando, FL
Pop International - NYC
Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery - Sydney, AU
2011
Angela King Gallery - New Orleans, LA
Beverly Art Center – Chicago, IL
Cutter & Cutter Fine Art - St. Augustine, FL
Cool Globes 2011 Westerpark Amsterdam
Clinton Presidential Center - Little Rock, AK
Linton & Kay Contemporary - Perth AU
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Off The Wall Gallery - Houston TX
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery - Sydney AU
2010
Museum of Contemporary Art - Chicago, IL
Fingerhut Gallery - Laguna Beach, CA
Off The Wall Gallery - Houston TX
LaFond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Linton & Kay Contemporary - Perth AU
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
P & C Fine Art - Washington DC
Pop Gallery - Orlando, FL
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery - Sydney AU
2009
The Columbia Yacht Club - Chicago, IL
Discovery Green - Houston, TX
Hanson Gallery of Sausalito, CA
Jay Etkin Gallery - Memphis, TN
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Liss Gallery - Toronto, Ontario, CA
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Maison Rouge Gallery - Chicago, IL
Noel-Baza Fine Art - San Diego, CA
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Water Street Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
2008
The Field Museum - Chicago, IL
The Kennedy Center - Washington, D.C.
Hallmark Galleries - Rancho Mirage, CA
Hanson Gallery of Sausalito, CA
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Liss Gallery - Toronto, Ontario, CA
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Maison Rouge Gallery - Chicago, IL
Noel-Baza Fine Art - San Diego, CA
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
San Diego Natural History Museum - CA
Crissy Field Center, Presidio - SF, CA
Water Street Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
2007
Hallmark Galleries - Rancho Mirage, CA
Hanson Gallery of Sausalito, CA
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Liss Gallery - Toronto, Ontario, CA
Louis Aronow Galleries - San Francisco, CA
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Maison Rouge Gallery - Chicago, IL
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Steven DeBottis Gallery - West Chester, PA
The Art Trust - West Chester, PA
2006
Hallmark Galleries - Rancho Mirage, CA
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Liss Gallery - Toronto - Ontario, CA
Louis Aronow Galleries - San Francisco, CA
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Steven DeBottis Gallery - West Chester, PA
2005
Hallmark Galleries - Rancho Mirage, CA
International Art Exposition - Toronto, CA
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Louis Aronow Galleries - San Francisco, CA
Mars Gallery - Chicago, IL
Pop International Galleries - Soho, NY
Steven DeBottis Gallery - West Chester, PA
ThirdStone Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
2004
La Fond Galleries - Pittsburgh, PA
Louis Aronow Galleries - San Francisco, CA
Richmond/Ermet Foundation - SF, CA
Steven DeBottis Gallery - West Chester, PA
ThirdStone Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
2003
ThirdStone Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
Peligro Gallery - New Orleans, LA
1994
Art and Artists - Washington, DC
Peligro Gallery - New Orleans, LA
ThirdStone Gallery - Saugatuck, MI
1987
Dinnerware Gallery - Tucson, AZ
East Ashland Gallery - Phoenix, AZ
G.V.G. Gallery, Houston - TX
Peligro Gallery - New Orleans, LA
1986
Contemporary Arts Center - New Orleans, LA
Diverse Works - Houston, TX
East Ashland Gallery - Phoenix, AZ
G.V.G. Gallery - Houston, TX
Kisker Fine Art - Scottsdale, AZ
Peligro Gallery - New Orleans, LA
X-Art Gallery - New Orleans, LA
1985
Contemporary Arts Center - New Orleans, LA
G.V.G. Gallery - Houston, TX
Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Arts - NO, LA
X-Art Gallery - New Orleans, LA
1984
Contemporary Arts Center - New Orleans, LA
Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Arts - NO, LA
X-Art Gallery - New Orleans, LA
