Spotlight: Artist Peter Halley Unveils an Innovative New Series of Digitally Printed Paintings

The limited series made with Lito Editions utilizes innovative printing technology.

Artist Peter Halley. Courtesy of LITO Editions.

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What You Need to Know: This month, Lito Editions of Bregenz, Austria, announced the launch of a new collection of artworks by artist Peter Halley. Presented as a limited series of 35 works using a repeated clone “cell,” an extension of the artist’s Cell Grids (2015), the works are decidedly tactile and textured, and feature Halley’s hallmark use of bold color. Conceived and produced in collaboration with Lito Editions, the art publisher founded in 2022 to drive printing and artistic innovation, the collection highlights one of the firm’s specialties: producing a new hybrid form of art that is simultaneously serial and unique. The production of the series, which includes works Red, Nine Times (2023), Blue, Nine Times (2023), and a forthcoming Color, Nine Times, employed a concept proposed by Halley, cloning one of his “cells” made from Roll-A-Tex (commonly recognized for its use in popcorn ceilings). Using both mechanical and manual processes, the result is series of geometric works with texturally unique pigment relief.

About the Artist: New York-based American artist Peter Halley (b. 1953) was a pioneer of the 1980s Neo-Conceptualist movement, recognized for his work featuring Day-Glo paint and hard geometric compositions. Utilizing the visual language of earlier geometric abstraction, Halley’s work investigates myriad ideas around space, including how it is organized within the Information Age, socially, and perceptually. His oeuvre frequently centers on the use of his own designated elements: “prisons,” “cells,” and “conduits,” which he uses as starting points for his paintings. Halley has also consistently participated in art writing and criticism, forwarding contemporary discourse. His work can be found in numerous international institutional collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and Centre Pompidou, Paris, among others.

Why We Like It: The works created between Halley and Lito Editions are evidence of a nine-month-long partnership, harkening back to the close working relationships between artist and printer from the mid-to late-20th centuries. Here, though, the result is not only a series of work but a new form of printing technology, and exciting development for the genre on the whole. Speaking of the process, Halley said, “I have always been fascinated by new digital technology. I always assumed it would someday be possible to recreate the texture of paintings or other textured surfaces digitally. But when I first saw a sample of Lito’s realization of the surface of one of my paintings, I was stunned by the accuracy of the texture—as if the future had suddenly arrived.” For followers of Halley as well as print lovers, the collection is a fascinating development for both. The bright, saturated color punctuated by distinct texture—previously reserved for painting—lend to a captivating viewing experience.

See featured works below.

Peter Halley, Red, Nine Times (2023). Courtesy of LITO Editions.

Peter Halley, detail of Red, Nine Times (2023). Courtesy of LITO Editions.

Peter Halley, Blue, Nine Times (2023). Courtesy of LITO Editions.

Peter Halley, verso of Blue, Nine Times (2023). Courtesy of LITO Editions.

Explore the limited edition collection by Peter Halley with LITO Editions here.