Collection: Peter Plagens

Peter Plagens (b. 1941) is an American artist, art critic, and novelist, renowned for his five-decade-long career as an abstract formalist painter. Based in New York City, Plagens is best known for his contributions to Artforum and Newsweek, where he served as senior writer and art critic from 1989 to 2003. His abstract paintings, influenced by artists like Hans Hofmann, Willem de Kooning, and Richard Diebenkorn, have been described as fusing high refinement with everyday awkwardness. Critics have noted the intellectual depth and visual complexity of his work, which often raises more questions than answers.

Plagens has written several influential books, including Bruce Nauman: The True Artist (2014) and Moonlight Blues: An Artist's Art Criticism (1986), and his two novels, The Art Critic (2008) and Time for Robo (1999). He has received prestigious fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and his artwork has been shown in major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and LACMA.

His 2004 retrospective, organized by the USC Fisher Gallery, traveled to several museums, and his works continue to be exhibited regularly in solo and group shows. Plagens is married to painter Laurie Fendrich, and they reside in New York City while maintaining a studio outside the city.