New Works

Opening Reception
Friday, May 13, 2015, 8 to 11 pm

Hallwalls is pleased to present new work by Pittsburgh artist John Peña, including new sculptural works and selected videos. Peña's work operates across various media (including the ongoing "one cartoon each day" autobiography called Daily Geology) and across various emotional strata. In certain works, Peña illustrates a desire to engage and sometimes emulate the natural world, while in other works, he teases out the awkward reality and unavoidable pathos of the human condition. For his exhibition at Hallwalls, Peña will be producing a new series of sculpted, site-specific word balloons, augmented by a selection of short video works based around clouds, atmosphere, and the natural world.

BIO

John Peña is a visual artist, illustrator and educator who makes art as a way of exploring the natural world and his daily interactions. Originally from the desert of Washington State, he now resides in Pittsburgh, PA where he makes a drawing every day, bikes around the city and loves hanging out in Allegheny Cemetery. A few of John's projects include: racing with clouds, sending a letter to the Pacific Ocean every day for the last ten years and creating a pirate radio station that played extinct birds sounds. John has attended a number of residencies including Skowhegan, Bemis & The Fine Arts Work Center. He was also the recipient of the 2012 Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Award as An Emerging Artist and recently created an artwork for the Mattress Factory Museum in Pittsburgh.

www.johnpena.net