Quantum Imagination - Charley Peters - Artist in Focus

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Albert Einstein 1879 –1955

Gaming, Science Fiction, Smart Phones, Tablets, Supercomputers, Robots, AI, Astronomy, General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Physics and Quantum Imagination, these are a few terms which spring to mind when seeing Charley Peters’ body of work. Many of us are unaware of the innards of our modern gadgets and how they operate. Nor do we, the general public comprehend Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Physics, the study of sub-atomic particles of matter and energy. Both disciplines have a profound impact on the investigation of our universe. Peters’ artistic Zeitgeist indulges and feeds on these methodical examinations, in particular quantum imagination, a term also referred to as collective imagination.

Her paintings offer a fresh and innovative visual vernacular, where a mixture of distinctive wires and drops, along with titanium-coloured beads and attached chain links demand our attention. Some of these constructs are entangled and meshed together, whereas others are presented as a single entity. These original, avant-garde concepts are challenging viewers’ imagination and experience. Albert Einstein's declaration that "Imagination is more important than knowledge" highlights the fact that creative thoughts are a driving force in transcending the limitations of existing knowledge. Peters’ originality equals Einstein’s testimonial perfectly and her astonishing abstractions are evidence. Each living individual inhabits a perspective on the world which can be viewed as a personal dimension of a collective spacetime. This quantum capability enables us to imagine our reality and to share it with others, and Peters does exactly that.

Her creativity and vision started during her childhood in Birmingham, where she grew up. She spent much of her time alone, in her room occupying herself with drawing endlessly spaceships, robots and magical lands inhabited by aliens, creating her own mysterious universe. In her seminal years she was obsessed with Transformers cartoons, pixelated video games, heavy metal album sleeves and science fiction book covers. This kind of visual language was her ongoing influence until she encountered the abstract expressionists along with their powerful paintings. Peters stated: "I think about the paintings that I make now as a mixture of all these things – growing up somewhere strange with a TV for company, the mess and chaos of the city, spending hours typing codes into my ZX Spectrum to make it draw coloured lines by apparent magic, feeling small and voiceless in a big noisy world, the dynamism of Abstract Expressionism, the quiet precision of the hard edge, the everyday coolness of pop culture and the moody strangeness of teenage subcultures".

Peters’ paintings are deeply rooted in the digital realm and quantum imagination. Her oeuvre engages with the possibilities and uncertainties of the complex observable world we inhabit and negotiate along with the weirded and wonderful.

During her upbringing Peters’ filled her loneliness with her fantasies, while her curiosity instantaneously embraced ‘The New’, ‘The Radical’ and ‘Being an Outsider’. And as an artist she refused to conform to the painterly conventions and pursued her unique aesthetic style - and for this Peters should be celebrated and applauded-.

In addition to her prolific studio practice, Peters has been receiving numerous public commissions. In 2022, Peters was the first artist to be commissioned by London Art Fair to make a site-specific artwork on the front of The Business Design Centre. “For The Win” was a vinyl installation on the glass of the building, welcoming visitors to the fair. In 2021, she created an artwork for International Women’s Day on the Spanish Steps leading up to Wembley Stadium. “Power Up”, depicting a succession of shooting stars rising up in solidarity in recognition of the resilience of women’s voices.

Charley Peters lives and works in London. She exhibits internationally and recently showed at Saatchi Gallery, London; Meakin + Parsons, Oxford; Hauser & Wirth. London; Z20 Sara Zanin Gallery, Rome, Italy; Yantai Art Museum, Yantai, China; Art 2, New York, USA; National Museum of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland. Her clients include Meta/Facebook; House of Vans; ITV; London Art Fair; Wembley Park and Hospital Rooms. Peters completed a PhD in Fine Art Theory and Practice and has contributed writing about art to several online and print publications that included Instantloveland, A-N, Turps Banana and Abstract Critical. She is a visiting tutor in Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School, a visiting painting mentor at Turps Art School and a Postgraduate Senior Lecturer at University of the Arts London.

For further assistance about Charlie Peters' work
contact [email protected]

Quantum Imagination - Charley Peters - Artist in Focus - June 2024