Gauntlet Gallery
What is Cleon Peterson’s piece called “Practice Of Masters”
Summary
A stark black-and-white screen print depicting a chaotic brawl of muscular, masked figures bludgeoning and stabbing one another with clubs, blades, and bricks, bodies bent, falling, and bleeding across a blank white ground. It is a quintessential early Cleon Peterson scene of mob violence and the brutality lurking beneath social order, distilled here to pure black silhouettes against white.
Why It Matters
The print crystallizes the visual language that made Peterson's reputation: faceless aggressors locked in a frieze of mutual destruction, rendered in flat, high-contrast silhouettes that recall Greek vase painting and Hogarth's moral chaos. Stripped of his signature red, the all-black palette intensifies the sense of anonymous, ritualized cruelty, the "practice of masters" reading as a grim indictment of power, dominance, and learned violence. As a small-edition work from 2013, the period when Peterson's solo career and Shepard Fairey collaborations were taking off, it documents the artist hitting his mature style.
Collector Perspective
An early, low-edition Peterson at just 18 prints, which puts it among the scarcer screen prints in his catalog. Hand-signed and dated in the lower margin and editioned in pencil, it sits in the desirable 2013 window before his market broadened. The monochrome black-on-white palette and dense, all-over composition appeal to collectors who favor his purest, most graphic work over the later red-and-gold pieces. Demand for Peterson's small early editions is steady; condition and clean margins matter given the large fields of solid black ink.
Historical Context
Produced in 2013, a formative year as Cleon Peterson (b. 1973, Seattle) moved from underground recognition toward wider visibility through gallery shows and his ongoing collaborations with Shepard Fairey. The work belongs to the body of brutal, allegorical fight scenes that define this era, drawing on classical Greek vase imagery, Hogarthian satire, and street-art directness to expose abuses of power and the violence beneath civilization.
FAQ
What does this print depict?
A frenzied melee of masked, muscular figures attacking each other with clubs, blades, and thrown objects, with bodies bent over, falling, and wounded, rendered as flat black silhouettes against a white ground.
How large is the edition?
The edition is 18, making it one of the scarcer screen prints in Peterson's output.
Is it signed and numbered?
Yes. It is hand-signed and dated by Cleon Peterson and numbered in pencil in the lower margin.
What is the medium?
A hand-pulled screen print on paper, executed in solid black ink on white.
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, often working in black, white, red, and gold and collaborating frequently with 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.