Petersen’s latest one man exhibition continues his turgid personal progression in “Bay Area figurative painting,” at a higher, brighter, more intense pitch. At best, these paintings are professionally sound, satisfying and sensible statements of a style. However, the paintings seem somehow pervaded with a sense of unfelt emotion and artificial imagery. There is an indication that Petersen is moving from the sound, superficial performance to one of an intense, perhaps almost hallucinatory lyricism. His brighter nervous color points this way, even though his pedestrian structure and space tension deny it. The best painting in the show is the small Fields, Figure & Parasol.
––Walter Hopps
September 1962
VOL. 1, NO. 4
