First NFT Minted

As an experiment I created my first NFT. It's a 15 second clip based of my work on A.I. created films. You can find it here: Chris Peters NFT

h Club London Press Release

CHRIS PETERS COMES TO h CLUB LONDON TO DELIVER A TALK ON THE ROLE OF ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (A.I.) IN ART

CHRIS’ RECENT PROJECT ‘TensorDream’ SAW HIM WORKING ALONGSIDE A.I. TO CREATE NEW WORKS OF ART

TUESDAY, JUNE 11TH   |  Doors at 7pm for a 7.30pm start  |  Booking Link: https://bit.ly/2ZI2do1

h Club London (formerly The Hospital Club) are pleased to welcome Los Angeles based artist and former software engineer Chris Peters to give a talk on the role of artificial intelligence (A.I.) in art, on Tuesday 11th June – doors at 7pm for a 7:30pm start.

Chris’ most recent work, ‘TensorDream’ saw him working alongside A.I. to create landscape art. He customised a Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Network (DCGAN) which is a kind of A.I algorithm capable of self-learning. Over a three-day period, the DCGAN studied thousands of landscape paintings (curated by Chris) in order to achieve an understanding of their composition and palette. This resulted in the A.I. being able to synthesize and create new compositions in seconds, creating a higher resolution and more sensitive computation of a landscape. Chris then painted his favourite results in oil, thus transforming the imaginings of the A.I. into a language that human beings understand.

Running on just released NVIDIA hardware, Chris is the first artist to both customize A.I. software to generate landscape compositions and paint them in oil. Additional information can be found at the TensorDream Website.

Chris’ project, which was completed on 2nd February 2019, suggest a healthy and creative use for A.I. software in a time when A.I. headlines and filled with anxiety and pessimism. From reality, through a series of simulacra and back to reality, Chris’ project was a wholly innovative collaboration between man and machine, giving us an insight into how A.I. may see our world, and in turn giving Chris an insight into the mind of an A.I. muse.

Chris will show 3 new paintings as well as having a live code demo; Anna Lowe (Forbes 30 under 30) is the moderator.

Sullivan Goss Gallery Press Release

CHRIS PETERS’ FIRST THREE A.I.-BASED PAINTINGS TO BE UNVEILED

A ONE NIGHT SHOWING & DISCUSSION FOR ARTISTS, CURATORS & COLLECTORS IS PLANNED

OPENING RECEPTION:  THURSDAY, MARCH 28TH   |   6 - 7:30pm

SANTA BARBARA, CA - On Thursday, March 28th, Sullivan Goss will host a private exhibition and reception where they will unveil three new oil paintings that were imagined by an artist-customized Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Network (DCGAN is an A.I. algorithm capable of “learning” and “predicting”). Artist Chris Peters hand-curated and processed a set of 6,000 landscape images from a larger set of 11,000, programmed open-source machine learning software to create a higher-resolution and more sensitive computation of a landscape, and painted his favorite results in oil. He translated the imaginings of his A.I. Muse into a language that human beings have been using for forty-thousand years - painting. Running on just released NVIDIA hardware, he is the first artist to both customize A.I. software to generate landscape compositions and paint them in oil. Peters’ new project suggests a healthy and creative use for A.I. software in a time when A.I. headlines are filled with anxiety and pessimism. This series was completed on February 2, 2019, but this will be the public’s first chance to see the paintings.

The artist will give a brief talk on his innovative project and will answer questions. Following the brief presentation, the paintings will be unveiled and drinks will be served.

To learn more about Chris Peters or his project, please visit:  tensor.chrispeters.com

Sullivan Goss Gallery Press Release

THE EYE BEGINS TO SEE: NEW PAINTINGS BY CHRIS PETERS

“The work is absolutely stunning and profoundly moving....a true heir to the great Tonalist tradition in American art.”

- David Cleveland, author A History of American Tonalism: 1880–1920

SANTA BARBARA, CA - For his first solo exhibition with Sullivan Goss, L.A.-based artist Chris Peters will deliver nineteen paintings – the very brightest of which is illuminated by a full moon whose lower half is hidden behind the silhouette of a tree. These paintings imagine a liminal space – the border between where the eye begins to see and where some unseen and perhaps more profound reality ends.

Whistler called these kinds of paintings nocturnes in an attempt to entwine the feelings of Romantic music with his painting. Before that, “moonlights” – as night paintings were once known – were relatively rare. It is probably not a coincidence that their popularity waxed with the popularity of Gothic romance novels, Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, and the vogue among Pictorialist photographers for images that were dark and dreamy. In American art, many of the paintings of the period are now described as Tonalist.

The Gallery has long held an interest in night paintings. In 2001, a very successful exhibition of night paintings whetted the local appetite for these kinds of images. Subsequently, the gallery’s representation of the Estates of Lockwood de Forest, NA (1850-1932) and Leon Dabo, NA (1864-1960) as well as contemporary Tonalists like Nicole Strasburg, Sarah Vedder, and Jon Francis confirmed Sullivan Goss as one of the preeminent destinations for collectors interested in these aesthetics.

So, the night paintings of Chris Peters have precedents in both the history of American Art as well as the gallery’s exhibition program, but these are fresh. They are undeniably contemporary. They are also more indebted to the insights of infrared photography. Finally, they represent a striking turn for an artist trained in clear and crisp Realism.

New research suggests that there are different “chronotypes.” Some people are day people. Others are night people. These new paintings from Chris Peters should certainly appeal to the latter group. A catalog with a brief essay by Jeremy Tessmer and notes from the artist is available for this exhibit.

The printed show catalog is also available:

For additional information about the paintings on this page please contact:

Sullivan Goss Gallery
11 East Anapamu Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

t: 805.730.1460
e: Sullivan Goss Gallery

The Eye Begins to See

Finding Beauty in Dark Places

My work is influenced by this wonderful poem by Emily Dickinson:

I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.

He questioned softly why I failed?
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth, -the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.

And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.

Every painting I create is an attempt to capture the feeling I get when reading it. The poetic nature of Tonalism is ideal for this, with its limited palette, indistinct edges, and dark scenes devoid of any evidence of human (or even animal) habitation.

The paintings are created in the studio because nature rarely presents the “perfect picture”. My goal is always to capture a mood rather than a specific scene, and individual elements are there to serve the needs of the painting as a whole.

Copyright © 2003-2023 by Chris Peters. All rights reserved.