Gauntlet Gallery
What is Cleon Peterson’s piece called “Sirens Of The Night (Black)”
Summary
A nude female warrior charges on a galloping black horse, raising a blade overhead to strike, her silhouette rendered in flat black with gold accents against a white field scattered with gold spatter and small bird-like night forms. The print distills Cleon Peterson's signature vocabulary of violence and dominance into a single mythic rider drawn from Greek vase-painting and his recurring Siren and night imagery.
Why It Matters
Sirens Of The Night (Black) compresses Peterson's central themes — power, aggression and the seductive pull of violence — into one charged, isolated figure rather than the writhing mobs of his larger compositions. The classical Amazon-on-horseback motif, the sword raised mid-strike, and the gold-flecked night sky tie it directly to his myth-and-antiquity strand (End of Empire vases, Sirens), where ancient iconography becomes a mirror for modern brutality. As a small-edition screen print with hand-applied metallic gold, it is a clean, graphically powerful example of the artist's flat black/white/gold palette at its most concentrated.
Collector Perspective
A 2022 screen print in a tight edition of only 18, hand-signed and numbered in pencil (signature lower right, edition number lower left). The very small run places it among Peterson's scarcer paper editions and well below the 100–300 sizes of his more common prints, which supports stronger long-term desirability for a collector. It belongs to his Siren/night body of work and the gold-accented variants; the Black colorway is the darker, more graphic of the palette options. Realistic positioning: a niche, low-supply piece whose price is driven more by the edition of 18 than by image ubiquity, so condition, margins and the metallic registration matter to value.
Historical Context
Made in 2022, this print sits within Cleon Peterson's mature period, after the international visibility of his End of Empire and Shepard Fairey collaborations, when he was increasingly mining Greek mythology and antiquity. The armed female rider and the gold-spattered night sky connect to his Sirens and night-themed works, where he reframes classical vase-painting figures as agents of contemporary violence and power. The flat black silhouette with selective gold is characteristic of his output in these years.
FAQ
What does this print depict?
A nude female figure riding a galloping black horse and raising a sword overhead to strike. Both figure and horse are flat black silhouettes with gold accents, set against a white ground scattered with gold spatter and small bird-like night creatures.
What is the edition size?
The edition is limited to 18 prints, making it one of Cleon Peterson's scarcer paper editions.
Is it signed and numbered?
Yes. It is hand-signed by Cleon Peterson in pencil at the lower right and numbered at the lower left.
What is the medium and series?
It is a screen print with hand-applied metallic gold, part of Peterson's Siren / night-themed body of work in his black/white/gold palette. This is the Black colorway.
Who is Cleon Peterson?
Cleon Peterson (b. 1973, Seattle) is an American artist known for stark, high-contrast scenes of violence, power and social conflict, drawing on Greek vase painting, Hogarth and street art. He is a frequent collaborator of Shepard Fairey.
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.