Skip to main content
Label Text

A native of New York City, Peter Halley receive his B.F.A. degree from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, in 1976. After college he spent several years in New Orleans completing a M.F.A. degree at the University of New Orleans in 1978. He returned to New York in 1980.

Halley's paintings made reference to the urban landscape. The central square--bright red in Fire in the Sky is called a cell. Roll-a-Tex is the material that makes up the cell. The cell carries psychological overtones in regard to the isolation and alienation of the individual within the urban environment. Coming out of the cell are conduits, which are about connectivity.

Science fiction has been a recurring theme in Halley's work, and the title of this painting is taken from a science fiction movie. Halley frequently uses movie titles as the title of his paintings. Fire in the Sky is a line from the Deep Purple song Smoke on Water.

Source: News, July August 1993.


Published ReferencesAN UNCOMMON VISION: THE DES MOINES ART CENTER, Des Moines Art Center, 1998, ref. p.131, color ill. p.130

DES MOINES ART CENTER COLLECTS, Des Moines Art Center, 2013, ref. p. 120, color ill. p. 121
DimensionsCanvas: 95 1/2 × 87 5/8 × 3 3/4 in. (242.6 × 222.6 × 9.5 cm)
Accession Number 1993.10
Classificationspainting
CopyrightContact artist's studio directly
Fire in the Sky
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Helen Frankenthaler
1972
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Mitsuo Kakutani
1971
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Edward Dugmore
1970
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Helen Frankenthaler
1968
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Ulfert S. Wilke
1973
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Friedel Dzubas
1966
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Mary Heilmann
1972
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Leonard Ragouzeos
1975
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Agnes Martin
1974