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![\"MIKE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4413570_web1_260716-Josh-Peterson-0003.jpg\")
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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
A work by Winnipeg artist Simon Hughes hangs on the wall of Josh Peterson\u2019s Sherbrook Street apartment.<\/p>\n
The Winnipeg artist\u2019s iconic illustrations of ice floes can be found on the cover of the Weakerthans\u2019 Reunion Tour album, as well as on Peterson\u2019s walls.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like Simon a lot and like the work that he does. I think that was one of the starting points.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gravelly voiced 44-year-old grew up in River Heights and attended Kelvin High School before graduating from Grant Park.<\/p>\n
Rakish and athletic, Peterson seems like he might have been a good fit with Kelvin\u2019s cliquey south-end crowd, but he moves like a social chameleon.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the blocks of Aberdeen from Main Street to the river \u2014 that was my grandfather\u2019s steel foundry. There\u2019s still manhole covers with our name on it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey tried to put me in private school. I never got the Ravenscourt jacket.\u201d<\/p>\n
At that time, graffiti and street art were popping off in Winnipeg, and practically every downtown hole-in-the-wall was finding new life as a clandestine spot for music or art. Peterson says he started sneaking into DIY shows before he was old enough to legally drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was going to shows at the Albert when I was 14, 15 years old, when Plug In (Gallery) was still on McDermot. It was a very welcoming and open community,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In the early 2010s, Peterson co-ran an unlicensed after-hours venue in the Exchange District, which sometimes attracted big-name performers such as M.I.A.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the basement venue under the Fyxx also served as an art gallery. Peterson says this introduced him to many of the city\u2019s emerging and established artists.<\/p>\n
This includes members of the Two Six Crew, whose idiosyncratic mix of graffiti, painting, music and street-art was met with somewhat limited opportunities by the artworld establishment but eager audiences in Winnipeg\u2019s DIY scene.<\/p>\n
Beside Peterson\u2019s dining room table are vivid remnants of that buzzing era, with works by Two Six members such as Cyrus Smith, as well as works by Paul Zacharias and others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis critical mass thing just sort of happened and the Exchange was really active with art. We were (in our first space) for maybe nine or 10 months. It didn\u2019t have a licence. So we survived there long enough. It was fun,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Josh Peterson\u2019s home is decorated with works by local artists such as Paul Zacharias, Simon Hughes, Cyrus Smith and Winston Leathers, to name just a few.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Peterson and his partner moved their gallery into another space on Ross Avenue, where they featured art by Guy Maddin, Jake Kostiuk and Ian August, among others.<\/p>\n One exhibit included striking propaganda images by the former Canadian-Soviet Friendship Society \u2014 which aimed to persuade Canadians that the U.S.S.R. was a progressive state \u2014 some of which can still be found in Peterson\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the communist works were absconded from a left-wing social hall by a current sitting Crown prosecutor, who will remain nameless,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Peterson describes working, a little before erecting his Ross gallery, as a security guard at an award show for an upcoming hip-hop artist named Wab Kinew.<\/p>\n \u201cHe asked if I\u2019d be part of the security detail, which was basically just having a bit of an entourage because he was a rapper at the time,\u201d says Peterson, about Kinew, now Manitoba\u2019s premier.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s hilarious. He\u2019s got a great sense of humor, (and) he\u2019s smart.\u201d<\/p>\n A period as a realtor let Peterson break out the suits and linens he wears so dapperly, though these days he mostly makes his living working in film and television art departments.<\/p>\n When he\u2019s not working or doing the crossword in the bar below, he might be found holding court somewhere in the city core, firing off jokes and stories to anyone within earshot.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m good from the gutter to the penthouse,\u201d he says. \u201cNot to be arrogant, but that\u2019s how my father once stated it.\u201d<\/p>\n conrad.sweatman@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Conrad Sweatman Conrad Sweatman is an arts reporter and feature writer. Before joining the Free Press full-time in 2024, he worked in the U.K. and Canadian cultural sectors, freelanced for\u00a0outlets including The Walrus, VICE and Prairie Fire. Read more about Conrad.<\/a><\/p>\n
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