Peter Lyons

Born 1960 in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Resides in Natick MA.

The meticulous precision of a Peter Lyons painting offers more than the delights of a beautiful scene rendered skillfully in paint. It is also an attempt to rekindle and intensify in its viewers a state of awareness beyond the senses which, being human, they have already experienced in some measure. The painting’s otherworldly light grants a renewed vision of harmony among the natural, human, and transcendent orders of being. “Bathed in this elevating light,” says Lyons, “the beauty of the ordinary is released, and the image acts as a lens focusing awareness of wonder, joy, and spiritual anticipation in the viewer.”

In significant respects, Lyons’s paintings emulate luminist landscapes of the 19th century: beauty is immanent, serenity is palpable, and spiritual fulfillment is imminent. And in other respects, they are unabashedly 21st-century paintings, taking pleasure and finding wonder in color, form, and abstraction.

Peter Lyons was born in 1960 in Dunedin, New Zealand, and as a young man chose to devote himself to painting. He emigrated to the United States in 1990 and lived in Los Angeles for six years before moving to eastern Massachusetts, where he now lives and works

Past Solo Exhibitions with Matthew Swift Gallery
Hamptons Fine Art Fair 2023
July 13, 2023 – July 16, 2023
Matthew Swift Gallery will be exhibiting oil paintings by Peter Lyons at the Hamptons Fine Art Fair in Southampton, New York.
Peter Lyons: Scenes of Mexico and other architectural paintings
November 19, 2020 – February 28, 2021
Ten new paintings by Peter Lyons showing scenes of Mexico, together with other new and earlier architectural paintings.
Art Wynwood 2020
February 13, 2020 – February 17, 2020
Matthew Swift Gallery will present a solo exhibition of paintings by Peter Lyons at Art Wynwood in Miami FL,
Peter Lyons: On-Ramp
June 9, 2018 – July 8, 2018
An exhibition of new and recent oil paintings by Peter Lyons. The centerpiece is a triumphant scene of Mount Yōtei in Hokkaidō, Japan, which pays homage to the unities within Japanese art and culture of religious and secular life, of representation and abstraction, and of the natural and the stylized.
Peter Lyons: American Spring
April 30, 2016 – May 30, 2016
An exhibition of fifteen landscape paintings in oil by Peter Lyons. Six large paintings in the exhibition are major works, representing the artist at the height of his creative power and focused vision.
Boston International Fine Art Show, 2015
October 22, 2015 – October 25, 2015
Trident Gallery showed six paintings by Peter Lyons at the 2015 Boston International Fine Art Show.
Past Group Exhibitions with Matthew Swift Gallery
One Life / Summer 2024
June 1, 2024 – September 14, 2024
A continuation and evolution of the exhibition One Life.
One Life
March 17, 2024 – May 31, 2024
An exhibition curated with the inspirations of dance, plant life, and Coleridge's poem “The Eolian Harp.”
More Houses
August 12, 2023 – September 4, 2023
An exhibition of more houses.
Up to Eleven
May 5, 2023 – June 19, 2023
A group exhibition celebrating the commencement of the Gallery's 11th year and the formal reopening of its Main Street location after a pause of several months.
Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary 2023
March 23, 2023 · 5:00 pm – March 26, 2023 · 6:00 pm
Matthew Swift Gallery will be exhibiting at the Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary art fair in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Art Wynwood 2023
February 16, 2023 · 6:00 pm – February 19, 2023 · 6:00 pm
Matthew Swift Gallery will be exhibiting at the Art Wynwood 2023 art fair in Miami, Florida.
Right Here Not on Paper
August 13, 2022 – September 5, 2022
Right Here Not on Paper is a companion exhibition to Right Here on Paper on view in the Vault Room showing works not on paper depicting Gloucester MA and environs.
Explicit Color
July 1, 2022 – August 1, 2022
An exhibition of paintings and sculpture with explicit color: most titles name a color.
Art Miami 2021
November 30, 2021 – December 5, 2021
Matthew Swift Gallery will show work by Peter Lyons, Susan Erony, Erika Marquardt, Timothy Harney, Gabrielle Barzaghi, Aron Leaman, Diane Ayott, Ruth Mordecai, and Kim Radochia.
DIRVEN 2 ABSTRAXION
November 13, 2021 – January 31, 2022
A group exhibition of abstract art.
Hamptons Fine Art Fair 2021
September 2, 2021 – September 5, 2021
Matthew Swift Gallery will present work by Peter Lyons, Timothy Harney, Gabrielle Barzaghi, and Kim Radochia.
A Closer Look at Still Lifes
March 6, 2021 – June 21, 2021
A group exhibition exploring the diversity of the tradition of still lifes.
Art Miami 2020
December 1, 2020 – December 20, 2020
Matthew Swift Gallery is participating in the 2020 edition of the prestigious Art Miami fair, which is exclusively online at Artsy.net this year.
Threshold
September 5, 2020 – October 4, 2020
An exhibition for a time of danger and transitions.
Art Palm Beach 2020
January 30, 2020 – February 3, 2020
Matthew Swift Gallery will show work by gallery artists and a special exhibition of work by Erma Wheeler at Art Palm Beach.
Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary 2020
January 9, 2020 – January 12, 2020
Matthew Swift Gallery will show work by gallery artists at Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary.
20/20
November 23, 2019 – February 29, 2020
An exhibition which invites you to take a closer look while approaching and beginning the year 2020.
New Series Two
October 10, 2019 – November 18, 2019
Signature works of art by gallery and guest artists, in harmonious groupings, but without an express theme.
New Series One
August 10, 2019 – October 7, 2019
The gallery introduces a new name, Matthew Swift Gallery, and a new exhibition format: a group exhibition of individual treasures.
Philadelphia Fine Art Fair 2019
April 4, 2019 – April 7, 2019
Trident Gallery will show work by Peter Lyons, Zygmund Jankowski, and Ruth Mordecai in Booth 134 at the 2019 Philadelphia Fine Art Fair.
SCOPE New York 2019
March 7, 2019 – March 10, 2019
Trident Gallery will show work by Peter Lyons, Nadine Boughton, and Zygmund Jankowski at the 2019 SCOPE New York art fair.
Facing Five Years
January 17, 2019 – March 31, 2019
A program of exhibitions and events revisiting Trident Gallery’s first half-decade years and assaying the next.
Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary 2019
January 10, 2019 – January 13, 2019
Trident Gallery showed work by Peter Lyons, Susan Erony, Ed Touchette, and Diane Ayott at the Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary art fair in West Palm Beach, Florida.
SCOPE Miami Beach 2018
December 4, 2018 · 12:00 pm – December 9, 2018 · 8:00 pm
Trident Gallery exhibited work by Peter Lyons, Susan Erony, Diane Ayott, Gabrielle Barzaghi, and Ed Touchette at the 2018 SCOPE Miami Beach art fair.
Boston International Fine Art Show, 2018
October 18, 2018 – October 21, 2018
Trident Gallery showed work by Peter Lyons, Erma Wheeler, Charlie Carroll, and Winston Boyer at the 2018 Boston International Fine Art Show.
In With The New
January 26, 2018 – March 25, 2018
An exhibition of new, unseen, and selected works of art by represented artists.
Boston International Fine Art Show, 2017
October 19, 2017 – October 22, 2017
Trident Gallery showed work by Peter Lyons, Winston Boyer, and Zygmund Jankowski in Booth 17 at the 2017 Boston International Fine Art Show.
A Time for Blue
January 20, 2017 – March 26, 2017
A themed exhibition of art selected by Director Matthew Swift.
Beyond Real: Contemporary Landscapes
August 15, 2015 – September 13, 2015
A group exhibition offering more than fifty paintings, drawings, photographs, and mixed media works in the genre of landscape, chosen to represent a diversity of artistic approaches.