Pete earned his MFA from Cornell University in 1980. Immediately after graduation he moved to lower Manhattan, married his wife Karen and had a son, Steven. As the years progressed he developed a corporate career as a human resources executive, moving from city-to-city across the US and overseas (including seven years in Tokyo and Shanghai). He left the corporate world in 2022, serving most recently the Chief Human Resources Officer for Infor, a global software services company.
He continued to draw and paint throughout those forty two years. He had two one person shows in Wichita, Kansas while living there from 2004 through 2009, and two in Philadelphia as part of the now defunct Highwire cooperative, while living in Fishtown from 2009 to 2014. After returning to Philadelphia from Shanghai in January 2022 at the onset of COVID, Pete and his wife settled in Center City.
For the past year and a half Pete has focused his interest and energy on both his metaphysical and aesthetic interests. From a metaphysics perspective he continues to pursue a non-dual understanding of reality. He has continued to narrow the aperture on his aesthetic pursuits, focusing on painting and drawing, and seeking to show something of the phenomenal and noumenal world as he sees it through visual art.
Pete is also, in a small way, looking to engage with and catalyze the development of visual arts in Philadelphia through writing and art criticism. He publishes The Current, an Instagram-based blog featuring a curated sampling of visual art across the city, and through regular contributions to The Artblog, where he reviews exhibitions and interviews gallerists, artists and collectors.
Visual art should stand by itself and be able to tell its own story. For my work, it’s about listening and then acting. My role is mostly to get out of the way.
1980
Cornell University, MFA
2012
Highwire Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2011
Highwire Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2005
One Person Show, Fishaus, Wichita, KS
One Person Show, Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, KS
2023
Work Featured in Summer 2023 Edition of Philadelphia Stories
2012 and 2013
Cover Art for Business Directory and Neighborhood Resource Guide (NE Philadelphia)
2012
Peter Sparber: A second spark in an artistic career Feature Article in 'Metro', Philadelphia Inquirer
Online Blog Featuring Philadelphia Contemporary Art
‘The Cost of Sleep,’ Elizabeth Johnson’s swirling dreamscapes defy narration
Da Vinci Art Alliance at 93, connected to community, retooling and reaching out
Gifts that keep giving, small works at The Plastic Club, Sketch Club, Vox Populi and Gross McCleaf
The Dark Light in Joe Boruchow’s ‘Monster Storm’ at Space 1026
Gifts that keep giving, small works at The Plastic Club, Sketch Club, Vox Populi and Gross McCleaf
