Skeletons in Love

Leave the Shame Behind
oil on linen over panel
Chris Peters, 2007

Following up on my previous post, Chris Peters' memento mori-flavored show, "The End and After," opens this Saturday at Copro/Nason Gallery in Santa Monica, CA.

The Lovers
oil on linen over panel
Chris Peters, 2007

Peters follows in the tradition of Renaissance anatomical illustrators, who portrayed the human skeleton in lifelike, even emotional poses, laden with symbolism. For hundreds of years after Vesalius, skeletons and "muscle men" continued to be drawn in attitudes of contemplation, regret, and even prayer, with results both eerie and pathetic:

De Humani Corpis Fabrica, 1543
Vesalius ( 1514-1564)[anatomist]

Copperplate engraving with etching, 1690
National Library of Medicine
Govard Bidloo (1649-1713) [anatomist]
Gérard de Lairesse (1640-1711) [artist]

This type of anatomical illustration bled into the Dutch tradition of vanitas paintings, which combine skeletons with symbols of transience like hourglasses, dead flowers, and material wealth (because you can't take it with you). While acknowledging theses influences, particularly the vanitas tradition, Peters doesn't strive to evoke the patina of the 1600s in his work - he's nearer Netter than Vesalius (Chris tells me via email, "Frank Netter's anatomy book is always by my side! The man was a genius.")

Peters' starkly lit interiors and subdued colors evoke the America of a few decades ago, at most; frequently, the skeletons seem to have wandered into a backlot designed by Edward Hopper.

The Two Comedians
oil on canvas
Chris Peters, 2007

It's interesting to compare the effect achieved by Peters with the compositionally similar Tulipan ad campaign I described in my previous post. Both place clinically minimalist skeletons in contemporary domestic settings. But Peters' skeletons somehow seem to retain the signature of human emotion, of actual intimacy, while the Tulipan skeletons only mimic sex - to ludicrous effect.

more by Chris Peters here.