Peter McGough: “Alphabet”
Peter McGough, The Letter C, 2008/23. Cyanotype, 16 × 12 in. Courtesy of the artist and Karma Gallery.
Peter McGough—painter, photographer, and writer—presents his solo exhibition Alphabet at Karma. With quiet and monolithic beauty, the works on view imitate painterly qualities while highlighting the power of photography and alternative printing processes.
With the male nude at the center of his photographs, McGough created twenty-six stunning images representing each letter of the Roman alphabet. Intentionally using contortions, poses, and props, the bodies in these images read like sculptures. McGough had a specific vision for this project, casting men that fit the ideal Ancient Greek body type, evoking archetypes of balance, idolized beauty, and athleticism. Working with a single camera and a black background, McGough had photographed the entirety of this project in one single day, but he then set the project aside.
Fast forward fifteen years later, the seductive prints hang on the walls at Karma, with the exhibition space visually inspired by Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery. Printing the work for this show over a three-year period, McGough utilized an antique technique that uses UV light to produce white and blue images called cyanotypes. Perfecting the tones, highlights, and shadows, he uses the clean, pristine color combination to enhance his concept.
Installation view of Peter McGough: Alphabet. Courtesy of the artist and Karma Gallery.
“I have a frenzy to create,” McGough says. “I feel like I’m a volcano of ideas.”
Setting the lens aside, McGough has picked up the paintbrush and can’t seem to pull himself away from it. He occupies his studio Monday through Friday (“like a banker,” he adds), painting whatever is swirling around in his mind. This disciplined practice culminates in two rooms packed with artwork that McGough has made since the pandemic. He states that something has changed within him since that time; the worldwide silence allowed him to focus in a new way. “I find painting to be very intense,” he says. “But I just can’t stop making.”
Peter McGough, The Letter M, 2008/23. Cyanotype, 16 × 12 in. Courtesy of the artist and Karma Gallery.
McGough finds inspiration in many pockets of life, but much of his work draws from nature and queer culture, often combining the two. In a world where technology is at the epicenter, McGough uses art to ground him in the present, escaping the restrictions of the physical realm for a world of imagination and fantasy. “Art is what makes us human,” he says. “Literature, photography, performance, filmmaking, painting—that is what holds humanity together.”
McGough’s solo exhibition is on view through December 21, 2024 at 172 East 2nd Street. For a deeper dive into McGough’s journey, you can read his memoir, I’ve Seen the Future and I’m Not Going.
