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For Immediate Release

PETER ANTON’S EXHIBITION “JUST DESSERTS” OPENS AT FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM

More than 32 years ago Peter Anton began creating food-related sculptures. “Since my very early youth I was intrigued by the many colors and textures of food,” explains the artist -- whose solo exhibition “Just Desserts” opens at the Fairfield University Art Museum’s Walsh Gallery in Fairfield, Connecticut on May 10, 2024 and runs through July 27, 2024. “Being in the kitchen at my mother’s side I watched her prepare various meals. I loved helping and studying and playing with the scraps. Years later I became fascinated with the power food has over people. I also love the way food brings people together during life’s celebrations as well as solemn occasions. Food can be uplifting and I wanted to create art that uplifts and inspires people.”

“Just Desserts” will feature an assortment oversized sculptures of various sweets, evoking memories of childhood and adult favorites, including boxed chocolates, donuts, a candy apple, ice cream bars, a Pop tart, ice cream sundae, candy conversation hearts and more. Anton experiments with various materials and techniques to achieve the physicality of his monumental desserts, including wood, metal, plaster, resin, and oil and acrylic paints.

The artist’s first food project, created in 1991, was a giant TV dinner measuring 6’ wide, and a year later followed by a series of packaged raw meats. In 1994 he began creating giant fruit and vegetables sliced open to reveal their seeds, and in 1995 he began to work on chocolate-themed sculptures . Other sculptures of sweets soon followed.

Peter Anton is also known for his installation “Sugar & Gomorrah” at Art Basel Miami in 2012. The interactive sculpture was the world’s first art installation in which viewers rode through an exhibition aboard an actual roller coaster -- winding their way through a set design created by the artist, consisting of a destructed city with tumbling pillars and fire, skeletons juxtaposed with larger-than-life sculptures of sugary treats, and partially clad live models.

“I am delighted that we are able to present this exuberantly fun exhibition featuring the work of an internationally renowned sculptor,” commented Carey Mack Weber, the museum’s executive director.

Peter Anton’s work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums throughout the United States and in Europe, including the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Connecticut; the Austin Museum of Art in Texas; the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, New York; the Fresno Metropolitan Art Museum in Fresno, California; the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, Wyoming; the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut; the Castellani Art Museum in Niagara, New York; the COPIA Museum in Napa Valley, California; the William Benton Museum in Storrs, Connecticut; the Strathmore Museum in Bethesda, Maryland; the Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin; the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri; the Historic City Hall Arts & Cultural Center in Lake Charles, Louisiana; the Madden Museum of Art in Denver, Colorado; and the Copelouzos Art Museum in Athens, Greece; the Museum Jan van der Togt in Amstelveen, The Netherlands.

In Germany he has had exhibitions at the Museum Villa Rot in Burgrieden-Rot; Schloss Gottorf Museum in Schleswig; the Museum Ritter in Waldenbuch; Schloss Neuenburg Museum, the Wilhelm Hack Museum in Ludwigshafen, and the Staatliche Kunsthalle in Karlsruhe.

Anton is represented in the United States by the Bonner David Galleries in New York City and Scottsdale, AZ, and the Samuel Owen Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut. Upcoming exhibitions include the DavisKlemm Gallery in Wiesbaden, Germany in October 2024 and Galeria Hispanica in Mexico City in February 2025.

The Fairfield University Museum of Art is celebrating the opening of “Just Desserts” on Thursday, May 9 with a reception and lecture titled “Connecticut Confections” by Amy Nawrocki and Eric D. Lehman, who will speak about centuries of dessert-making in the Nutmeg State. Nawrocki and Lehman are the authors of A History of Connecticut Food., “Just Desserts” will be accessible through the museum’s website as a video tour and a 3-D virtual tour.

The museum is located at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. (203) 254-4046. museum@fairfield.edu