Gauntlet Gallery
What is Cleon Peterson’s piece called “End Of Empire”
Summary
A high-contrast red-and-black screen print depicting a chaotic courtyard scene of figures brawling, embracing, and collapsing around a central fountain in front of a grand neoclassical mansion. Part of Cleon Peterson's End of Empire body of work, it stages the decadent collapse of a wealthy society as bodies fight, fall, and writhe amid spilled drink and disorder.
Why It Matters
End Of Empire is one of Cleon Peterson's signature statements on the rot beneath civilized power. By setting his trademark violence outside a columned, pedimented estate rather than in an anonymous void, Peterson makes the subject explicit: this is the ruling class consuming itself, the privileged courtyard turned into a free-for-all of assault and excess. The reduction to a flood of arterial red against silhouetted black bodies pushes the imagery toward the timeless and the mythic, channeling Greek vase painting and Hogarth's moralizing crowds into a contemporary image of societal decay. It crystallizes the recurring End of Empire theme that runs through Peterson's most ambitious work.
Collector Perspective
A 2015 screen print in an edition of only 28, this is a genuinely small run for Peterson and sits well below his typical 100-plus print editions, making it one of the scarcer pieces a collector can chase. Peterson prints are normally hand-signed and numbered by the artist. The dense multi-figure composition and the loaded End of Empire title make it more desirable than his single-figure or text-based works, and the tiny edition gives it real upside over time. Market liquidity is moderate-to-good for the right buyers, though the low edition size means examples come up for sale infrequently.
Historical Context
Created in 2015, this print belongs to the period when Cleon Peterson's career was accelerating around his End of Empire theme, the same conceptual territory he explored in his Greek-vase-inspired works and large-scale paintings of social collapse. Peterson (b. 1973, Seattle) draws on classical antiquity, William Hogarth's narrative crowd scenes, and street-art directness to depict the abuse of power and the brutality beneath civilization. This mid-decade window produced several of the works that established his stark black-white-red visual language.
FAQ
What does End Of Empire depict?
A frenzied courtyard scene set before a grand neoclassical mansion, where black-silhouetted figures fight, grapple, embrace, and collapse around a central fountain amid spilled drink and chaos, rendered entirely in Peterson's blood-red and black palette as an image of a privileged society devouring itself.
How large is the edition?
The edition size is 28, a small and relatively scarce run for the artist.
Is it signed and numbered?
Peterson's prints are typically hand-signed and numbered by the artist; a signature is visible in the lower right corner of this impression.
What medium and year is it?
It is a screen print made in 2015.
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 in a flat black, white, red, and gold palette. He draws on 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.