Peter Shire’s Guide to Subverting Tradition and Taste

Peter Shire and Echo Park exist in a symbolic relationship; a kind of authenticity born from family and belonging. Under the care of his parents—his artist/carpenter father, Henry Shire, and his mother, Barbara Shire, who championed art within the family matrix—he learned early on the basic carpentry and life skills that led him to a world of curiosity coupled with extraordinary talent.

He is an unbothered individual. Working in just one material could never preclude him from endless potential. A graduate of Los Angeles’ Chouinard Art Institute, he came up through drawing and pottery. Anchored solely in his studio for 54 years, Shire has always let form follow informal function, ensuring the tactility of his art-making has no borders between disciplines.

One constant representation, however, is always apparent: color. Whether looking at a chair, teapot, toy, drawing, sculpture or public work, Shire always finds a way to impact and combine colors. While working out of his workshop in Echo Park, various friends and WET Magazine led him to an unlikely encounter with Ettore Sottsass, Barbara Radice and the Italian-led art movement that redefined “good taste” in the late 20th century.

Here, gallerist and curator Hiroko Maruyama sparks a conversation with the artist about Memphis Milano, postmodernism, color stories and life lessons.