EAST HAMPTON, NEW YORK.- The Guild Hall Museum presents Elizabeth Peyton, on view through October 22, 2006. This exhibition will feature 50 never before seen etchings, monotypes and woodcuts done by Elizabeth Peyton over the last 5 years. The images include her portraits of celebrities, artists, family and friends drawn from photos, life and memory, largely composed as close-ups shots. The images are rendered personal through Peyton’s light painterly touch.

Peyton’s portraits represent the immediate emotional intensity of our relationships with celebrities, both historical and current. Peyton has also begun to pursue the depiction of many of her contemporary artists. She openly uses media photographs for her source material and reflects her love of the famous in her prints and painted portraits. Peyton was born in Danbury, Connecticut and earned a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 1987.

Peyton made her name with a series of portraits of 19th century Romantic figures in a 1993 show at the Chelsea Hotel by Gavin Brown. In 1995, she did a series of adoring portraits of suicide rocker Kurt Cobain and has also done numerous portraits of David Hackney. Her work is very personal, making it "OK to talk about the emotional content of painting again, to talk about desire and love and longing." Her paintings have been well received both in the United States and abroad.