In conjunction with the installation, Peter Dayton: Dark Garden, Guild Hall exhibiting artist, Peter Dayton, will join Melanie Crader, Guild Hall’s Director of Visual Arts, for a conversation on the installation and Dayton’s wide-ranging practice – from punk rock to site-specific installations.

Peter Dayton
Dark Garden, 2024
Ink on premium vinyl with
low-luster laminate and collage overlay

After a nearly decade-long career as a punk rock musician, Peter Dayton returned to visual art upon moving to East Hampton in the mid-1980s.

Dark Garden is a site-specific installation created for Guild Hall’s stairwell leading from the lobby to the balcony of the Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan Theater.

Dayton’s exploration of flowers began when he found discarded issues of House and Garden magazine from the 1950s near his home, and his collages utilize photocopied flowers from seed catalogs, which links his practice to the work of Andy Warhol and other pop artists. He chooses visually arresting images of flowers without leaves and stems—images devoid of sentiment, emotion, or specific references—allowing the flower forms to create their own patterns.