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Artist Mark Pehanich in his Petersburg studio (Photo by Monica Escamilla)
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"Zippo," acrylic, oxidized brass paint, powdered tire rubber and glass beads on 12 panels, 30 by 45 inches, 2019
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"Coup," acrylic on panel, 16 1/2 by 30 inches, 2019
Artist Mark Pehanich doesn’t always know which direction his pieces are going to go when he starts them — and quite frankly, he doesn’t want to know. Leading with intuition instead of concepts, Pehanich combines ideas from his sketchbooks to create colorful, hard-edged pieces full of movement and dimension.
“I’m sort of at odds with a lot of contemporary art today that is more idea-driven and conceptual. … There’s some very good conceptual work out there,” Pehanich explains, “but I don't understand putting the idea first and then making art to fit this idea.”
Originally from Illinois, Pehanich developed his approach while earning his Master of Fine Arts degree at Brooklyn College, studying under prolific artists such as Lee Bontecou and Philip Pearlstein. Over the years, his work has gained both national and international attention, exhibiting in galleries from Texas to Japan, as well as the Eric Schindler Gallery in Richmond.
His sketchbooks serve as a working encyclopedia of ideas that he keeps on standby. Once the individual pieces are combined to make new shapes, he gets down to specifics — building his own canvases and frames and meticulously experimenting with colors and materials.
“It makes all the difference that I have the right type of surface quality for every color to make them work,” he says. Often using wood panels instead of traditional cloth canvases, Pehanich rotates between acrylic paints, pigment dispersions and even powdered tire rubber to produce different textures and color intensities.
The artist’s joining of intuition and methodology allows the viewer to see the embodiment of his creative process, showing how the combination of fragmented feelings can come together to produce something new and exciting.
Pehanich currently resides in Petersburg, where he shares a renovated 1850s warehouse-turned-studio with his wife, fellow artist Dolly Holmes. He has taught painting and sculpture at the Appomattox Regional Governor's School and Richard Bland College.
With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing many galleries to cancel or delay exhibitions, Pehanich has been focusing on creating new pieces and exploring a more digital approach to his style.
“It's pushing it in a different direction,” Pehanich says. “It’s exciting to do something new.”
