The Late Spring Arrival

Exploring a pleasurable hobby not always associated with or afforded to Black men, Peterson paints seemingly gleeful gardeners in moments of respite. In The Late Spring Arrival, he depicts a man lying in repose in his garden, caught in a moment of solitude and joy after a long winter. In a graphically distinctive manner, Peterson replicates the images of flowers on seed packets commonly found at home and garden shops and catalogs. Swirling around this scene are bees that look, due to their outlines, like stickers on the surface of the painting. The artist’s rich palette, graphic compositions, orientation of figures in nature, and angular framing create tension between the visible and the implied. Peterson’s protagonist appears happy, confidently taking pride in his lush gardens.