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PaintingsDIRECT: Many of your paintings seem to be inspired by popular culture and symbols from our society. Do you consider yourself a sociologist as much as an artist?

Peter Illig: It seems to me that these are the images that matter. Every culture has its important images and ours, today, are found in photography, film, and popular media. I do look at society and my paintings are attempts to make analogies about what I see. A lot of artists believe art should raise people above the "everyday" and it should, but you start with rolling around in the 'junk' of everyday life. By juxtaposing images I am trying to show the complexity of contemporary life -- several things going on at once.

Nietzsche in Waco (1997)
Peter Illig

White Male Guilt (1996)
Peter Illig

PaintingsDIRECT: What are your favorite themes for your art and why?

Peter Illig: The themes are found on several levels: First, the superficial combination of images found in our visual environment; second, the implied meanings of these combinations; third, and deepest, the way the paintings represent the life of the artist and the act of making art. This is the analogical aspect. Every image in my work is a metaphor (for something else). I think a lot about art history, my experience as a teacher, how men and women interact, and about distinctly American themes, such as the open roads of this country, television, the edges of towns in the West, and advertising. There are a lot of obscure references.

PaintingsDIRECT: Your style is very realist, almost photo- or film-realist. Can you tell us more about it?

Peter Illig: The populist in me (and this is influenced by my experience in years of teaching) wants my paintings to be accessible to the general public, should they be exposed to my work. In other words, I don't want to be part of the 'elitism' of non-objective painting that must be explained to the 'uneducated' public by a few experts. That does not mean that I dislike abstract painting, I do. Once you have studied Picasso and the modernist movement you cannot 'unlearn' it -- it will influence your work forever. I make reference to abstract art within my paintings frequently. The representational image is still the way the media, and consequently many artists, show us things. It is my vocabulary, as it were. This doesn't mean that a narrative, realistically-painted image is without ambiguity; it certainly still can be mysterious, enigmatic, and beautiful.

Kitchen Scene (1998)
Peter Illig

Kiss or Kill (1997)
Peter Illig

PaintingsDIRECT: Often your paintings have three distinct sections. Can you explain why you choose this format?

Peter Illig: The triptych format comes from the portable altarpieces of medieval Europe, so it carries the story-telling and sacred intent of those original religious objects. The central image can be a focal point and the sidepieces elaborate on it, or extend the story or message.

PaintingsDIRECT: When did you start painting and what led you to the work you are doing today?

Peter Illig: I started painting seriously in the early 80's after I received my Bachelors degree in Art education. I was very inconsistent until I returned to school (after many years of teaching) and entered a Humanities program. I was reading everything: psychology, literature, feminism, film studies, art history, social theory, post-structuralists, etc. That influenced me greatly and I knew what I had to do. I have not stopped painting and drawing since. When I research I immediately think about how the theories and ideas can be shown visually.

Allusion (1997)
Peter Illig

Medical Problems (2000)
Peter Illig

PaintingsDIRECT: What do you want the viewers to get out of seeing your artworks?

Peter Illig: I don't have a lot of ego in my work (some would dispute that) so they aren't entirely "about me." I would like people to see the world differently, make associations that they would never have made before, want to learn more, and question assumptions about society and art.

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