For Immediate Release
 

Peik Larsen

Notes, Studies, Outtakes

September 10 – October 17, 2026

 

Freight + Volume is proud to present Notes, Studies, Outtakes, a selection of 50 years of notebook excerpts and related works by renowned printmaker Peik Larsen, his fifth solo project with the gallery in the past 20 years. The exhibition opens on Thursday, Sept 10th from 6-830 pm, with a special preview on Wednesday evening, Sept 9th. The project runs concurrently with Mary DeVincentis solo and ends on October 17th.

 

In Ways of Seeing, the legendary art historian and critic John Berger states that drawing is a way of seeing the world afresh, and that the painter's way of seeing is reconstituted by the marks he makes on the canvas or paper. As well, August Rodin opined It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character.

 

Larsen subscribes to this philosophy of practice, practice, practice – drawing for the artist is not only a daily exercise but a method of experimenting and thinking on paper. It is fascinating to observe how the artist's hand and mind works as he develops an idea in his notebooks and carries it into final print and/or painting form. These outtakes from his notebooks reveal an artist who is constantly evolving, learning from and even celebrating his mistakes, and investigating ways of evolving as a sentient artist and a person.

 

When Peik's longtime partner and fellow artist/photographer, Judith Larsen, suffered a severe head injury from a bicycle accident, he chronicled her long (full) recovery with daily drawings and etchings of her progress - as she learned to walk and speak clearly again. The series "Walking" was a literal memory lane of rehabilitation and growth – for both partners – over a period of years. The notebook excerpts reveal many such autobiographical details, and are enlightening for the viewer to explore – much like blooper reels and edited outtakes from cinema - as a deeper dive into an artist's process and personality.

 

In addition to his work as artist and printmaker, Larsen is a master bookmaker. This exhibition includes a survey of some of his elegant, limited edition publications over the years, as well as a new offering with the same title, printed in tandem with the exhibition. This book is available for prepurchase online on shopify, or at the gallery after the exhibition opens.

 

Please join the artist and friends at his public reception on Thursday, September 10th from 6-830 pm in Tribeca.

 

—

Peik Larsen studied art at Middlebury College and The San Francisco Art Institute and received an MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts College graduate program. He's worked as a professional painter at Fox Graphics in Boston Via Santa Reparrtata in Italy. He shows his paintings, prints, and books at Victoria Munroe Fine Art in Boston, Readymade on Cape Cod and Freight + Volume in New York City, and is in many collections in the US and Europe. For many years he taught printmaking at Harvard and has been a visiting artist and critic at many New England art schools.