Comments on: Creating a Veil of Ignorance by Judith Peck

By: Duffy Pastore

Duffy Pastore — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 14:24:11 +0000

Wonderful presentation of individual and collective consciousness. All is as one. Intimate expression of dutiful research, heartfelt contemplation and soulful execution. Can’t wait to see the new stuff!

By: Michael Britton

Michael Britton — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 14:12:16 +0000

Judith Peck’s paintings are among the most compelling I’ve ever seen, her portraits both astonishing and riveting. Historical injustice and issues confront us, not as large scale abstractions but as intimate personal encounters, as we find ourselves suddenly face to face with a person we would never have expected to encounter standing directly before us, a person whose eyes look directly at us and perhaps into us, taking the measure of our reaction to the violence, the coercion, the humiliation and where it is we stand, and have stood, in relation to it all. In these faces, in these eyes, we do not see defeat; Judith presents us with the spirit, the dignity, the integrity that could not be destroyed even if bodies were killed. Millions who were silenced and disappeared have not been totally erased after all, Judith Peck has seen to that. Their presence is felt here, in an encounter of painting and viewer the like of which I have never experienced before. These portraits are so intensely alive that it becomes a question of who is taking the measure of whom: the viewer of the portrait, or the portrait sizing up the viewer. The silencing of the past continues, as the painted figures cannot speak, but the words — the statements, the questions, the challenge — are present in eyes that speak volumes. Judith Peck is a master of the silent dialogue. I recall at this moment her painting of the question for women as to whether they their full, sensual presence must be silenced to keep others comfortable, the painting that reflects our holding of the Earth and its future — and our own, her painting of the grandmother that knows she survived the holocaust and has triumphed because she has lived to see a granddaughter come into adulthood, and now this painting in which we see our own ambivalent wish to know and to not know our place in the world, and the place of others. The veil of ignorance allows us the blurring of fantasy and reality, what we wish to be and what we are so far fated to have been, life in the real world and the life we should be living were our dreams to be true. Who are we to ourselves, and to each other? This veil of not quite knowing: how does it help us in this life, and what does it take from us? What does it mean to this woman, and what does she ask us about ourselves in relation to her as she reveals this most intimate blurring that is part of her life? Judith Peck loves talking with others about the issues in her work. She is a master of words as well as of the brush. To hear her speak about this painting — and others — in person will be a treat not to be missed.

By: Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 20:35:05 +0000

Your work is very powerful!!! Wish I could come to the Fridge Show but am in West Virginia now.

By: Joey P. Manlapaz

Joey P. Manlapaz — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:30:34 +0000

I am looking forward to seeing Judith’s newest series at Hillyer. As a fellow painter, I read this article with great interest and curiosity as to how her topic of choice — social justice — will be depicted. The painting “Veiled Judgment” surpases my expectation and can’t wait to see the rest of the series.

By: Tony Bernardi

Tony Bernardi — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 16:39:28 +0000

Judith Peck’s work has a nervous energy that is reminiscent of a volatile potion in a renaissance alchemist workshop. The culture and nature of her work represents a veiled message more so than any symbolic veils included in their composition. I am really excited about Peck’s work because it continues to evolve and rarify communicating a message that I believe even she is still not very aware of it. These are good works that go beyond her reasoning mind. These are unreasonable works. It seems she cannot manage this higher reason, this newness which continues to be beautifully informed by her love of the renaissance masters and at the same time contains its own graceful message. The contrast between the way her subjects stare at us and the story she makes them tell create a counterpoint that invites our curiosity to keep on looking at her work. It all seems uneasy, uncomfortable, but not exactly disturbing. She makes us curious. And looking at how her work evolves I cannot help but notice this curiosity is genuinely her own coming through. It seems these are records of her experimentation and discoveries that even she does not understand yet. It must be her desire to uncover her own reality, hidden in the expression of her portrait subjects, which propels her to keep exploring this strange world portrait after portrait. I am excited to see these and I am curious about what she will reveal in her subsequent work. I believe she is a new day alchemist delving into unknown possibilities of grace and growth.

By: Duffy Pastore

Duffy Pastore — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 15:32:57 +0000

How refreshing, this depth of thought and depth of research combined. Individual and collective issues presented in a complex, intuitive mannner that has me revisiting each work over and over. Has propelled me to discover Rawls’ work as well. Good luck with show! Can’t wait to see the “new” stuff.