Gauntlet Gallery
What is Cleon Peterson’s piece called “Hysteria (2020)”
Summary
Hysteria is a large tondo screen print in which a yellow/gold disc is filled edge to edge with a tessellated, repeating pattern of black silhouetted nude figures running in panic, each with its head thrown back and engulfed in white flame. The interlocking, wallpaper-like rhythm of burning, fleeing bodies turns Peterson's signature violence into an image of collective terror and mass hysteria.
Why It Matters
The print distills Cleon Peterson's central subject — the brutality and chaos beneath ordered society — into a single, deceptively decorative motif. By rendering frantic, fire-headed figures as a seamless repeating pattern inside a clean circular field, Peterson collapses the line between ornament and atrocity: panic becomes a texture, suffering becomes endless. The reductive black/white/gold palette and the borrowed logic of classical Greek vase painting (flat silhouettes locked in motion around a tondo) give the work a timeless, mythic register, framing modern hysteria as something ancient and recurring. It is a strong, graphically resolved example of how Peterson weaponizes design clarity to deliver disturbing content.
Collector Perspective
A 2020 screen print in a tight edition of 36, hand-signed and numbered in pencil (visible lower right), making it one of Peterson's scarcer print releases rather than a mass-market drop. The large tondo format and the strong, instantly readable black-on-gold motif give it real wall presence, which supports collector demand. As a low-edition, high-impact image from a well-established, frequently-traded artist, it sits in the upper-middle of his print market: more sought-after than his open or large-edition works, though not a unique object. Condition and intact full margins (with the signature/number) are the key value drivers on the secondary market.
Historical Context
Released in 2020, Hysteria belongs to Peterson's mature body of screen prints from his Los Angeles studio, the period in which his stark black/white/red/gold language and tondo "vase" compositions were fully developed. The fleeing, fire-headed figures connect directly to his ongoing themes of social collapse, mob behavior and the abuse of power, and to his End of Empire-era reworking of Greek pottery imagery. The 2020 context — a year defined by widespread social unrest, pandemic anxiety and political upheaval — gives the title and its imagery of mass panic added contemporary resonance.
FAQ
What does Hysteria depict?
A yellow/gold circle filled with a repeating pattern of black silhouetted nude figures running in panic, each with its head thrown back and on fire. The interlocking design reads as a mass of fleeing, burning bodies — an image of collective terror and chaos.
What is the edition size?
The edition is limited to 36.
Is it signed and numbered?
Yes. It is hand-signed and numbered in pencil by the artist, visible in the lower right margin.
What medium and format is it?
It is a screen print, produced in 2020 in a large circular (tondo) composition on white paper.
Who is Cleon Peterson?
Cleon Peterson (b. 1973, Seattle) is a Los Angeles-based artist known for stark, high-contrast scenes of violence, power and social conflict in a flat black/white/red/gold palette. He draws on classical Greek vase painting, Hogarth and street art, and is a frequent Shepard Fairey collaborator.
Related Works
About the Artist
Cleon Peterson (b. 1973, Seattle) is an American artist known for stark, high-contrast scenes of violence, power and social conflict, rendered in a flat, limited palette of black, white, red and gold. His chaotic compositions of fighting, clubbing and writhing figures expose the abuse of power and the brutality beneath civilization’s surface, drawing on classical Greek vase painting, Hogarth and street art. A frequent collaborator with Shepard Fairey, he shows internationally; his prints, sculptures and editions are widely collected in the urban-contemporary market.
Collecting Cleon Peterson at Gauntlet Gallery
Where can I buy authentic Cleon Peterson prints?
Gauntlet Gallery offers an extensive, authenticated inventory of Cleon Peterson prints and contemporary editions, with new drops added regularly. Browse the current collection at gauntlet.gallery.
How does Gauntlet Gallery ensure authenticity?
Gauntlet Gallery is built on curation, authenticity and transparency — every work is vetted and its provenance, edition details and condition are disclosed up front.
Does Gauntlet Gallery add new Cleon Peterson prints?
Yes. New drops are released regularly across Cleon Peterson and other leading artists; see gauntlet.gallery for the latest inventory.