Peter J Ketchum

From the New York Times:"Peter J. Ketchum knows how to get the viewer's attention. Shown widely around the country, his pictures commingle colors, people, situations, commentary and mediums in a manner that is provocative, funny and to the point. Attempts to pigeonhole the work as Pop, folk, cartoon, mixedmedia, collage, anthropomorphic, or merely strange tend to fall short of the mark!"


Five works were included in 35 Artists of North America, curated by Thomas Krens, former director of the Guggenheim Museum.
Ketchum received a degree in fine arts from Colby College and did additional study at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. He studied privately with George Baer.

The New York City based artist's work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institute, The Norfolk History Museum and Colby. It has been shown at the Brooklyn Museum, The Bushnell, The Springfield Museum of Fine Art, and The Discovery Museum. The artist has shown in solo and group shows in Boston and NYC, including Exit Art, Lumina, SOHO 20, HERE, the Williamsburg (Brooklyn) Art Center, Real Artways,the Charter Oak Cultural Center and TNC Gallery. Curators and/or gallery owners who have shown his work include Ethan and Ivan Karp...

Most of my work is about personal and societal attitudes as reflected in our ephemera: found photographs (pre-1950s), ads, menus, postcards. Because most of the found visual bits and pieces I use were mass produced, the broad acceptance of and interest in the ideology inherent in them is underscored. Before "political correctness," society happily perpetuated stereotypes. This is true of humorous materials produced about women, Jews, people of color, Native Americans, fat people, gay people, Arabs, and other minorities. In little bits and pieces negative views were approved at the cash register, sent worldwide through the mails, and displayed at home. These popular images shaped some of our current attitudes as a society: ideas about beauty, woman's work, body image, social acceptability, masculinity, sex, measures of success and morality. I am also interested in our perpetuated cultural myths and lies: war as a given, for example. I am interested in our sports, religious and political leaders misadventures with truth and morality. I am interested in moral standards as reflected in our icons and popular imagery. I wonder if our societal soul is nothing more than an Ebay collectible. Will the coke bottle be the fossil index of ...

"35 Artists of North America" in North Adams MA, curated by Thomas Krens, former Guggenheim director.
A solo show at the prestigious Five Myles Gallery in Brooklyn is scheduled for September 2022.