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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Peter Fried Art Gallery Opens in Vergennes

As of this Friday, in addition to delicious pastries, a visit to the town of Vergennes can include a perusal of the town’s newest art gallery. The Peter Fried Art Gallery and Studio, located at 245 Main Street adjacent to Vergennes Laundry, will hold its grand opening on May 8 from 6-10 pm.

Originally from Prague, Peter Fried received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Slade School of Fine Art, University College in London in 1984. Fried lived in London until moving to Vermont in 1995 to study Buddhism at Karme Choling, a Buddhist meditation center in the Northeast Kingdom. Fried’s work has been showcased in exhibits in London and Paris, and throughout Vermont as well.

His artwork includes landscapes, minimalist abstracts and allegorical studies, all of which are exhibited at the gallery in Vergennes. In his art Fried was influenced by the way the Romantics, Realists and Post-Impressionists depicted nature with “simplicity, reverence and clarity.” He seeks to emulate this representation of nature in his landscape paintings. Inspired by Agnes Martin, in his minimalist abstracts Fried finds a point of balance between chaos and order. Lastly, the allegorical studies are Fried’s attempt to “give voice to the unconscious through a pictorial stream of consciousness.”

Fried chose to open his gallery in Vergennes because of the town’s intimacy and because it “feels auspicious.” He hopes that the gallery will inspire others to make and share art, contribute to the art community of Vergennes and “play a role in initiating a gentle, kind and intelligent revolution in the world, auguring an era of peace, prosperity and loving kindness.”

“I feel a need to make life meaningful, and creativity offers a means to this end. Art enables me to be more fully present in the world,” Fried wrote in an email.


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