For Cleveland artist Bob Peck, three decades of creating art feels like it happened in an instant. As he prepares for his upcoming exhibit, "In the Blink of an Eye—30 years of art from Bob Peck" at Graffiti HeART, Peck’s career has evolved from a teenager painting graffiti to abstract expressionist to community educator and back to graffiti artist.

"As I get older, I find it hard to believe that some of the stuff I've done is 30 years old or more," says Peck. "When I think back to 1995, I go, ‘that was how many years ago? Oh, my God, that was 30 years ago now. And so time flies."

“In the Blink of an Eye” opens as a one-night retrospective showcase on Saturday, Nov. 1 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Graffiti HeArt in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. The show represents what Peck calls "walking three different paths as an artist for decades"—graffiti, public art, and abstract work.

Bob Peck painting turkeysThe show is a comprehensive look at the artistic evolution that began when Peck was 16 years old, sneaking out with a friend to tag their first wall in the Edgewater neighborhood on West 116^th Street and Franklin Avenue.

"I snuck out, and me and my friend did the thing where we said, ‘I'm staying at his house, and he said, he's staying at my house,’” Peck recalls of painting his first graffiti piece in 1993 at the age of 16. “And then we both went to this wall in our neighborhood and started tagging our names on it.”

Peck started working with Graffiti HeArt in 2014 as a contracted mural artist, and grew within the organization, says Valerie Schumacher, Graffiti HeArt program manager.

“It was more of an organic evolution than an official role,” Schumacher says. “He curated ‘Doowuchyalike,’ a 2024 salon-style gallery show where anyone in the city could submit work and had somewhere around 40 artists featured.”

Additionally, Schumacher says Peck curated “Above and Beyond,” a show that featured local graffiti artists from the 90s who transitioned into art making; and he did a show inspired by anime called “Kaiju,” which was inspired by the genre.

From street art to teacher
What started as what some might consider teenage rebellion became something much deeper to Peck, as his graffiti led him to a job at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, leading seminars in graffiti and hip hop culture, before he joined Progressive Arts Alliance—now known as Arts Impact—where he taught hip-hop summer camps and mentored young artists.

He says the experience taught him that sharing his knowledge takes genuine commitment from both sides.

"I'm very selective about doing that because I feel like if I'm going to take the time to teach somebody, I want to make sure they're serious about it," Peck explains. "A couple of the kids actually did get into the graffiti subculture, and one or two are actually professional artists now, so I'm very proud of them."

He warns that graffiti art is not always something that can be easily taught, and graffiti culture absolutely isn’t taught.

Bob Peck's "Lost""I can teach anybody how to draw their name in block letters in like an hour," explains Peck. "But to teach the whole culture and the history, and why you should do this and why you shouldn't do that, and here's what looks good on an advanced level—that takes years.

“I've seen some fast learners that maybe in a year or two they've got the hang of it,” he continues, adding that even he is still learning. It's a lifelong education for myself as well. It's not a crash course thing for sure—at least if you're really going to be a part of the culture.”

The abstract accident
Peck's transition into abstract art was almost an accidental move that occurred around 2005, when he was creating graffiti backgrounds on canvas.

"As I was making these backgrounds, I started stacking them up,” he recalls. “I started having a harder time drawing on top of them. I was like, wow, I really like these just the way they are. And lo and behold, I fell head first into abstract. It wasn't a plan."

The fall into abstract art led to about 15 years of focusing on what Peck calls "abstract expressionism with a graffiti derivative to it."

The transition came at a time when he felt he had accomplished his goals in the graffiti world, having painted extensively throughout Cleveland.

“I was becoming bored with graffiti and found a new energy in abstract that revitalized me,” he recalls. “In the last few years though, I’ve been finding myself revisiting graffiti much more, with a new energy to it. Sort of a full circle thing.”

Some of Peck’s favorite artists have also bridged the graffiti and abstract genres—including graffiti artist Jerry Inscoe, who goes by the name of Joker and now does abstract work, and Mirko Reisser who Peck says “is also a graffiti artist who does really amazing three dimensional painted pieces that blur the line between graffiti and abstract.”

One of artist Bob Peck's current favorites: “By A Thread”As for Peck’s current personal favorite of his own work? “It’s titled “By A Thread” and was painted during a very challenging year of my life recently,” he says. “It’s much darker than most of my other pieces. I used it as a vessel to paint away some of the pain I was feeling at the time.”

Coming full circle
As he approaches his 50^th birthday, Peck says he finds himself bringing graffiti back to the forefront while also incorporating all that he’s adopted into his art.

"I'm taking what I've learned as an artist—both from abstract and just life—and applying it to my graffiti and new methods,” he says. “And I’m finding I'm doing some cool, interesting stuff.”

“In the Blink of an Eye” will showcase Peck’s full circle journey throughout Graffiti HeArt’s two gallery floors.

The first floor will feature several large graffiti prints from as early as 1993 and going into the mid-2000s, Peck says, while the second floor will feature "six to eight original paintings and probably about a half a dozen three dimensional pieces—meaning sculptures, installations, things like that."

Reflecting and looking forward
Peck says he plans to share personal stories that go with his visual works. "With every wall, there's at least one or two stories about either a specific piece on the wall, or a grouping, and stories that tell the adventure of the painting that wall—the ups and downs of it," he says.

Bob Peck's "Lost on the Run"“There are even stories about getting chased out of places, and all the different experiences that a graffiti artist or a public artist can run into,” Peck adds. “I want people to really have fun with it. I want it to be an experience.”

Additionally, Peck says he hopes to change perceptions about graffiti culture by showing skeptics the art form, rather than vandalism. He says the show is also a moment of reflection for him, and transition as he figures out the next chapter in his artistic career.

"It's almost like airing out of all the old work—okay, here it is, check it out,” he says. “And now, what do I do next? What's my next adventure?"

Peck says his next adventure includes exploring more three-dimensional work, like wood crafting, 3D printing, and laser cutting. But he's quick to add: "I'm always going to be a painter as well—I love it too much."

Peck concedes that "In the Blink of an Eye" captures the speed at which his career has progressed and his amazement at the journey as he prepares to turn 50.

"You think about doing this much work in that amount of time,” he reflects, “and it's just like, wow, that went fast.”

"In the Blink of an Eye" is a free event that runs for one night only, Saturday, Nov. 1, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Graffiti HeArt, 4829 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44103. The exhibit features both original works and prints available for purchase. Refreshments will be provided, along with an awesome music playlist. The event is child friendly, but kids must be supervised at all times by an adult.