Gauntlet Gallery
What is Cleon Peterson’s piece called “The Jaunt #100 (Dawn)”
Summary
A stark, high-contrast seascape in which a large luminous sun hovers low over still, reflective water, framed by stylized black clouds and a dark rocky shoreline, with a single silhouetted surfer standing at the water's edge carrying a board over one shoulder. Produced for The Jaunt travel-residency print series, it is a rare, quiet, atmospheric work that departs sharply from Cleon Peterson's usual scenes of violence and power.
Why It Matters
The print is significant precisely because it is so unlike the rest of Cleon Peterson's output. Where his canonical work is built on writhing bodies, clubs, and the brutality of power, here he applies the same reductive flat-graphic vocabulary — bold silhouettes, hard tonal contrast, a restricted black-and-silver palette — to a meditative landscape with a single solitary figure. Made for The Jaunt, a series that sends artists somewhere new and asks them to make one print in response to the trip, it captures a moment of stillness and solitude rather than conflict, making it a notable outlier and a window into a softer register of the artist's design language.
Collector Perspective
This is a Jaunt edition print, hand-signed in pencil by the artist (visible lower right); the edition size is not confirmed here, but Jaunt prints are typically small, single-run editions, which makes them genuinely scarce relative to Peterson's larger gallery and collaborative releases. Its atmospheric, non-violent subject makes it an atypical example that appeals to landscape-minded buyers and Jaunt-series completists more than to collectors chasing his signature conflict imagery, so demand can be more niche. As a screen print from a recent (2023) limited run by an artist with an established secondary market, it sits in a moderate liquidity band — desirable, but priced and traded as a specialty piece rather than a flagship work.
Historical Context
Released in 2023 as part of The Jaunt, an ongoing project that funds an artist's trip to a new place and produces a single limited-edition screen print inspired by the experience. The travel premise explains the subject — a lone surfer before a vast sun and sea — and the meditative, place-specific mood. It belongs to the same early-2020s period in which Cleon Peterson (b. 1973, Seattle) was widely active across gallery shows, sculpture, and collaborations, but stands apart from that body of work as a calmer, landscape-driven statement.
FAQ
What does this print depict?
A large rising sun over calm, reflective water, framed by stylized black clouds and dark rocky shore, with a single silhouetted surfer standing at the water's edge holding a board over one shoulder. It reads as a quiet dawn seascape rather than one of Peterson's usual violent scenes.
What series is it from?
It was created for The Jaunt, a project that sends an artist to a new location and produces one limited-edition screen print inspired by the trip. This is The Jaunt #100 (Dawn).
What is the medium?
It is a hand-pulled screen print, executed in Peterson's flat, high-contrast graphic style in a black-and-silver/white palette.
Is it signed and numbered? What is the edition size?
The print is hand-signed in pencil in the lower right. It is a limited Jaunt edition; the exact edition size is not confirmed in our records, though Jaunt runs are typically small.
Who is Cleon Peterson?
Cleon Peterson (b. 1973, Seattle) is an American artist known for stark black-white-red-gold scenes of violence, power, and social conflict drawn from Greek vase painting, Hogarth, and street art, and for frequent collaborations with Shepard Fairey. This Jaunt print is a deliberate, atmospheric departure from that signature imagery.
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.