Peter Jeppson is a self taught artist who started his career with graffiti, which led into illustration/graphic design and further now into drawings, oil painting and most recently sculptures. Bubbling with texture and vivid emotions, Jeppson paints his characters with complicated expressions that are not so easily understood, making them anything but one-dimensional. “I decided to give painting a chance. Initially I forced myself not to work within any lines at all, just to get away from drawing. I worked with so much detail when I sketched, I wanted another expression, something more quick, sloppy and direct.
Peter’s process in general is quite simple: “I paint a base layer, I sketch on a small piece of paper or direct on the wall beside the canvas, I add colour in the same range and work with shadows etc. I am always very careful with these lines, since I don't want the piece to become too cartoon like. I try to keep it as sloppy as possible with larger and quick brush strokes. I love when the colours drip, and find its way outside the motif. I love everything that gives the piece a messy feeling.”
This exhibition Jeppson has stripped his characters from objects, background etc, which leaves no room for distraction. Looking at the pieces for this show there are only the eyes and the expression that meets you. “This last year I have started to feel more comfortable and feel that I can manage to work within a larger scale. When experimenting with this format, I could focus even more than before on the expressions in the face, I wait until last minute to paint the objects that bare most feeling; eyes and mouth. I can repaint this many times just to get the right expression. I felt like working with this minimalistic style ever since I decided to work in a larger format.”
Peter creates his sculptures parallel with his paintings. The sculptures created for the show is mixed materials, things he has found that he likes in one way or another. The base construction is textile, which he sews to get the shape that he desires.