Peter Young was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1940. He is primarily known for his abstract paintings that have been widely exhibited in the United States and in Europe since the 1960s. His work is associated with minimalist and post-minimalist art, and lyrical abstraction. Young has participated in more than a hundred group exhibitions and he has had more than forty solo exhibitions in important contemporary art galleries throughout his career. He currently lives in Bisbee, Arizona
Young began his career as an abstract painter in New York City during the mid-1960s. During the 1960s and 1970s his paintings were included in two annual exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Leo Castelli Gallery among several other important venues.
During the summer and early fall of 2007 Young had a major retrospective exhibition of his paintings from the period from 1963 through 1977 at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center in Queens, and at the Mitchell Algus Gallery in Chelsea, in New York City. ]In 1968 he was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Grant. In 1969 he was awarded the Theodoran Award by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
His work is held by the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, all in New York City; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden ,Washington, D.C.; and the Seattle Art Museum, Washington, among other major museums.