Lorraine Peltz’s paintings and works on paper examine the ideas of memory, place, and identity – particularly in relation to women. Using imagery culled from both personal history and the contemporary moment she paints recognizable iconic objects imbued with potent metaphoric possibilities, and incorporates them in a range of painterly events. Peltz’s images coalesce into exuberant fields of color coupled with a singular object that resonate with accumulated meanings, and provide an expanse of visual pleasure. “Ultimately it is the effortless look and the playful sensibility in Peltz’s work that gives her authority . . . Peltz has developed a richly appealing body of work dedicated to the exploration of visual meanings and personal and collective symbolism.” (Kevin Wilson, Art Ltd, Jan. 2012)
Peltz has had numerous solo shows and been included in many group exhibitions including in Chicago at the Packer Schopf Gallery, Hyde Park Art Center, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Gosia Koscielak Gallery, Printworks Gallery, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, and the Renaissance Society, and elsewhere at Galerie Piltzer, Paris, Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, NYC, Arden Gallery, Boston, Olga Dollar Gallery and Micaela Gallery, San Francisco, Rockford Art Museum, the Herbert Johnson Museum at Cornell University, the Elmhurst Art Museum, Incorniciarte Gallery in Verona, Italy and many others. Her work has been reviewed in Art in America, Art Ltd, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times, Flavorpill.com, ArtSlant.com, ArtMoco.com, among others. She is the recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Grant and City of Chicago Artist Grant and is included in the Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Feminist Art Center. Peltz was selected as a featured artist for Chicago Artist Month in October 2011. Her work is included in private and public collections around the country and abroad. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Peltz received her MFA from the University of Chicago and her BFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz. Peltz lives and works in Chicago where she teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.—lorrainepeltz.com