Peter Geiger Artist Statement

I am an artist who uses license plates as my medium. Most of my time is spent creating license plate guitar art using 3-D mixed media to exactly replicate many different guitar styles in artistic form. I create my license plate guitars and other forms of license plate art in my North Carolina workshop, and sell my work through my website, petergeigerart.com, and at art shows around the country.

My interest in license plate art is rooted in my passion for all things vintage and rusty. Being a guitar player, I set out to create a piece of  3-D art that could represent music lovers everywhere.

As a license plate artist, I use license plates to tell the stories of legendary musical artists, individuals and companies. The reflective qualities of the vintage tags that I feature in my work spark memories of a time gone by.

I am often inspired to create new pieces when I meet and talk to people at art shows. When they look at the reflective qualities of my license plate art, they often see what I see, that they are actually a reflection on life. That leads them to imagine what their story would look like reflected on a piece. Where are they from, what is special to them? That's how a commission starts. We work together to create a custom piece about the recipient's life. 

A custom piece of artwork that tells people's stories, whether it is a legendary musician, a company, or an individual, is often the perfect gift when that perfect gift is hard to find. I love having a job that lets me meet people with amazing life stories and help them transform those stories into artwork that symbolize significant moments in their lives.

How I Create My License Plate Art

My license plate art is created through a labor intensive process. The tags used in the pieces are usually state specific to the client and are found objects selected for their color or meaning.

Then they are shaped, molded, clipped, cut and mixed with tags of other colors and/or reflective metals to create the story.

I use tin snips to clip small letters and pieces of detail, a grinding wheel to smooth edges and trim shapes, files to scuff and add texture, hammers to flatten and shape. All the pieces are arranged to create a one of a kind handcrafted piece of art like no other.