NEW YORK, NY.- David Kratz, President of the New York Academy of Art, announced that Peter Drake will become the Academy's new Dean of Academic Affairs effective January 10, 2010. Kratz said, "After a thorough search which included many outstanding candidates, we felt that Mr. Drake was the ideal choice for the position based on his standing in the contemporary art world, his long history as a member of the Academy's faculty and his support of the school's unique mission."

"I can say without hesitation that the Academy's is the only graduate program where articulation and iconography are held in equally high regard and where rigorous skills training is always in the service of contemporary figurative discourse," said Drake. "As an adjunct faculty member of the Academy for the past nine years, I have seen it become one of the most important graduate art schools in the country. I like to think of the Academy as putting 19th century skills in the hands of 21st century artists."

Having exhibited in galleries, non-profits and museums for 30 years -- including 26 solo shows -- Drake has experience in the larger art world that will help promote the mission of the Academy. After graduating from Pratt Institute in 1979, he began his career in the arts as a Master Printer at Aeropress working on major print editions for Brice Marden and Susan Rothenberg. At the Drawing Center he was an artist/curator from 1985 until 1989 and was exposed to many aspects of the non-profit world and the lives of emerging artists. He curated exhibitions, made presentations to the National Endowment for the Arts and participated in fund raising events with members of the board. From 1987 until 1989, he wrote reviews for FlashArt Magazine where he gained an appreciation for the critical community and its impact on the art world.

For the past 19 years, he has been an adjunct faculty member at Parsons the New School for Design where he participated on every level of the BFA and MFA programs. Most notably, he was involved in the development of an intensive professional practice program funded by the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation. It was in this capacity that Drake managed more than 100 visiting artists and arts professionals and managed relations with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Smack Mellon, Exit Art, Participant, New York Foundation for the Arts, Creative Time and many other arts institutions.

"This is one of the most exciting times in the history of the Academy," said Drake. It's also one of the most exciting times in the history of figurative art. After nearly a century of marginalization, the time has arrived when complex articulation can be embraced and the entire history of visual culture is open to the truly literate artist."