The dystopian worlds portrayed in Cleon Peterson’s paintings investigate the struggles between power and submission. Depicting themes of violence, sex, carnage and chaos, the Los Angeles based artist’s aesthetic is heavily inspired by the classical Greco Roman vases of warriors in battle— resulting in modern day scenes that appeared to have regressed into the past.

Deliberately confining his colour palette to red, white and black, the artist uses the bold emotive shades to further highlight his thoughts on present day moral and social issues, as well as global and national politics – “Red, black, and white feels violent and references the authoritarian colours used in propaganda, uniforms and symbols from the past.” (Cleon Peterson quoted in ‘Cleon Peterson’s new exhibition Blood & Soil attacks American politics head on,’ It’s Nice That, 6 July 2018, online). At once provocative, gripping and shocking, Peterson’s works unapologetically confront their viewers with the darkest recesses of the human mind.