"LA Artcore is a 501(c)3 Nonprofit gallery with a 30 year history of bringing innovative contemporary art to the public with two locations and 24 exhibits annually, with a focus on career development for artists of diverse cultural backgrounds, and provides educational programs by professional artists for people of all ages.

Jon Peterson is an artist woven into the fabric of contemporary art in Los Angeles. A living legend, he had completed his studies to become an aerospace engineer in the mid 70's, only to realize that his new career at Lockheed Martin left much to be desired.  Was he really going to spend his life building the machinery of war? He followed his intuition and changed direction, finding himself in Los Angeles studying at Otis Art Institute. In the late 70's he relocated his studio from Venice to downtown Los Angeles, joining a number of pioneers seeking studio space throughout the
downtown area, which included the early formation of what is now theBrewery Art Colony. Despite an almost frontier atmosphere of spaciousness
and an ample supply of nearly derelict buildings, the reputation of downtown wasn't very good. Contrary to this, he discovered a 'completely benign' environment, with artists and homeless living side by side in a working environment that provided a great deal of breathing room for the creative person interested in living in a way that optimized freedom and space. As he considered his environment, a breakthrough happened around 1976 and he began to build formal sculptures that were designed to integrate with the urban environment right outside his front door. He began to make sculpture that could double as homeless shelters. The work led to recognition, a National Endowment, and requests from cities all over to recreate his statement about art objects, the tiers of society, and questions of the relative and subjective aspects of placing value - on both art objects and human lives. Peterson in interviewed discussing his work in the film "The Young Turks", which is about a group of artists living in downtown, documenting a period from 1979 to 1983.

LA Artcore is presenting a retrospective of Peterson's career. The Brewery Annex gallery shows the early phase of his career, from work the subverts engineering, structure and space, to a gallery of large photographs displaying some of his shelters, even with transient occupants. The room provides a space to contemplate the significance of the artist's role in concretized think across a holistic plane, and also manages to merge the greater outside world with the more typically contained gallery setting."