Lamar Peterson, a distinctive voice in New York’s contemporary painting scene, returns to the spotlight with his new solo exhibition, The View from Outside. For over two decades, Peterson has depicted the quiet spaces of Black identity in everyday life, exploring the permeable boundaries between public and private. In this exhibition, he reimagines the home as both a sanctuary and a metaphor.
In Peterson’s paintings, domestic life feels less like a stage and more like a state of consciousness. A man standing in a garden, a father cooking a meal, a figure breathing by a window—these scenes express not only tranquility but also resilience. The artist transforms the simplicity of care and daily rituals into an aesthetic of Black grace. The View from Outside focuses on moments when the boundary between interior and exterior begins to dissolve. In Peterson’s palette, flowers blend into architecture, windows open onto gardens, and colors define the edges of emotions. The interior becomes a porous space, oscillating between a sense of security and the threatening proximity of the outside world.
This ambiguous space defines Peterson’s entire practice—the idea that peace is never entirely peaceful. His figures embody both fragility and strength. The order they create in their gardens evokes a fleeting utopian feeling, yet the sound of the outside world always echoes within. This uneasy balance beneath vibrant surfaces makes Peterson’s paintings both meditative and unsettling. The View from Outside invites viewers to look not only into the home but also into their own inner worlds. Peterson’s work navigates the invisible line between refuge and exposure, intimacy and intrusion, utopia and the everyday. Ultimately, it reminds us: what we think of as “outside” is often within us.
Apartment No:26 Note
Lamar Peterson paints peace not as an aesthetic comfort zone but as a fragile form of endurance.
The View from Outside is a vibrant yet tense mirror reflecting the modern individual’s quiet resistance within the home.