Peter Westwood
Peter Westwood is an artist, curator, arts writer, and a university academic. His work is focused on ideas of being within unsettled conditions in our current times. In examining this Peter has worked in various media, however his practice is primarily formed through a long-standing preoccupation and interest in painting, printmaking, and drawing. His work embodies and comments on perpetual change as a way of articulating Contemporaneity. Throughout his career his practice has focused on feelings of capriciousness, volatility, coming into being-ness, fleetingness, and multiplicity through atmospheres in his works that evoke instability and uncertainty. The experience of his creative works reveals ideas of our times as an unending transition, in turn provoking the viewer to reflect upon self, flux, and impermanence.Peter considers the encounter with an artwork as an immanent experience, as much an ‘event’ as a ‘thing’. Through materiality coalescing with imagery, his works appear to present a type of inexplicable cognizance, rather than a representation, imitation or affect. Generally, Peter’s work embodies a ‘something’ that may only ever be alluded to visually.Peter has been included in group, and individual exhibitions in public and commercial galleries in Australia and overseas. He has also curated exhibition projects over several decades in Australia, and periodically overseas, and is represented by Boutwell Schabrowsky Gallery in Munich, Germany and Blockprojects Gallery in Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
ARTWORKS
Accelerants, 2019
Oil on Linen
100.0 x 120.0 cm
Copyright the artist
Taxonomies, 2019
Oil on cavas
97.0 x 118.0 cm
Copyright the artist
You can get stuck, but with too much change you go chaotic, 2021
Oil on canvas
138.0 x 125.0 cm
Copyright the artist
Charlatan, 2019
Oil on Linen
91.0 x 66.0 cm
Copyright the artist
Fears may persist, 2019/20
Oil on canvas
120.0 x 85.5 cm
Copyright the artist
Negative horizon
Oil on canvas
130.0 x 140.0 cm
Copyright the artist
Fugitive Energies, 2019
Oil on Linen
132.0 x 92.0 cm
Copyright the artist
The moment everything happened, 2021
Oil on canvas
108.0 x 188.0 cm
Copyright the artist
The Fantastic Narrative, 2020
Oil on linen
130.0 X 90.0 cm
Copyright the artist
Eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes, 2021
Oil on linen
131.0 X 122.0 cm
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Field of Sorrow (Untethered), 2021
Oil on canvas, cotton hand-coloured threads
166.0 x 125.0 cm
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Love is a Whirlwind 2022
Pastels and Acrylic on Paper
60.0 x 45.0 cm
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No plan, 2012
Oil on linen
153.0 x 175.0 cm
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No change, much the same, 2017
Oil on Linen
140.0 x 101.0 cm
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Tomorrow + Tomorrow
Oil on canvas, beads
145.0 x 101.0 cm
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Our Father's Effect, 2015-17
Oil on linen
86.0 x 96.0 cm
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Inside of this, 2013
Oil on linen
112.0 x 112.0 cm
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All of this is true, most of it happened, 2021
Oil on linen
164.0 X 125.0 cm
Copyright the artist
What is the Story for Tomorrow? 2019
Oil on linen
97.0 x 137.0 cm
Copyright the artist
My fears are about things that I've never really seen, 2020
Oil on linen
120.5 x 93.0 cm
Copyright the artist
Agent Object Subject, 2024
Copyright Peter Westwood
No one wanted to let the precious liquid out so they stored it carefully and held on to it tightly, 2024
Screen print
Acrylic on BFK Rives paper, white 280gsm.
67.0 x 51.0 cm (Edition 1/6)
Copyright Peter Westwood
What happens when we don't hold to something, 2024
Copyright Peter Westwood
Minor Malfunction, 2024
Acrylic on paper
55.0 x 75.0 cm
Copyright Peter Westwood
No sign of anything stopping, 2024
Screen print
Acrylic on BFK Rives paper, white 280gsm.
63.0 x 50,5 cm (Edition 1/6)
Copyright Peter Westwood
Minor Malfunction, 2024
Acrylic on paper
55.0 x 75.0 cm
Copyright Peter Westwood
Aftermath, 2024
Copyright Peter Westwood
The undoing of an action, 2024
Screen print
Acrylic on BFK Rives paper, white 280gsm.
59.5 x 52.0 cm (Edition 1/6)
Copyright Peter Westwood
EXHIBITIONS
Peter Westwood
What happened during the off season
1st December 2022 - 21st January 2023
Peter Westwood
What is the Story for Tomorrow?
27th June - 31st August 2019
Summer Exhibition
Group Show
7th July - 8th September 2018
BIOGRAPHY
Education
PhD, RMIT University
Certificate IV Education, RMIT University
Master of Arts Research, Monash University
Graduate Diploma in Education, University of Melbourne Graduate Diploma of Fine Art, RMIT University
Diploma of Fine Art, Federation University
Solo Exhibitions (Selected)
2024 The new way to live, Blockprojects Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2022 What happened during the off season, Boutwell Schabrowsky Gallery, Munich, Germany
2022 Caught by surprise, Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig (HBK) Gallery, Braunschweig, Germany
2021 Painting as a marker of change, SITE 8 Gallery, School of Art, RMIT University Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2019 What is the Story for Tomorrow? Boutwell Schabrowsky Gallery, Munich, Germany
2017 Afterall, NKN Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2015 The Poor Hospital (passage and fate), Blockprojects Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2013 Drive, Blindside, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2013 Staring back at the world, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Eora/Sydney, Australia
2011 Look out, Jenny Port Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2010 Dieback, Jenny Port Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2009 48 Portraits, Jenny Port Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2006 Hard Times, The Doll’s House, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2004 Shape, Crossley and Scott Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2004 Differences, Crossley and Scott Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
1996 Things that have happened, Temple Studio, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
1995 Fruit of the forest, School of Art Gallery, Monash University, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
1992 Procession, Powell Street Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
1990 Untitled (Paintings), Powell Street Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
1989 Assemblages, Reconnaissance Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
1988 Paintings, Reconnaissance Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
1986 Drawings, Reconnaissance Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
Group Exhibitions (Selected, recent)
2023 Unbecoming, Jacob Hoerner Galleries, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. Curated by David Palliser and Julia Powles
2022 All you need is love, Shau Fenster, Berlin, Germany. Curated by Berthe Bosse and Thomas Rentmeister.
2021 2021 Geelong Contemporary Art Prize (finalist), Geelong Art Gallery, Geelong, Australia
2020 How Soon is Now, Blockprojects Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2020 The new ab/normal, RMIT Gallery, RMIT University, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia Curated by Dr Tammy Hulbert & Helen Rayment
2019 Spring 1883 Art Fair, Blockprojects Gallery, Eora/Sydney, Australia
2018 Spring 1883 Art Fair, Blockprojects Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia
2018 Group show, Boutwell Schabrowsky Gallery, Munich, Germany
2016 Painting, More Painting, The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. Exhibition curated by Max Delany (Artistic Director), Annika Kristensen and Hannah Mathews.
2016 Finalist: 2016 Calleen Art Award, Ngoura/Cowra Regional Art Gallery, Australia
2016 Finalist: 2016 Bayside Acquisitive Art Award, Bayside Arts and Cultural Centre, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
2015 The Door in the Wall, curated by Verity Hayward and Lucie McIntosh, Blindside ARI, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
2014 Head: Incidents Above a Bar (part 4), curated by Louise Paramor and Lisa Young, The Alderman, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
2014 Asteroid, Winter Spinnerei 2014, Leipzig International Artist in Residence Program (LIA), Spinnerei Arts Complex, Leipzig, Germany
2013 Reading the Space: Contemporary Australian Drawing #3, New York Studio School, New York, USA
2012 A place to eat from, Michael Jäger Collection, Atelier Dorrit Nebe, Cologne, Germany
2012 People ... ahh People, Gallery Mesh, Seoul, South Korea; curator Mihwa Park
2012 The Rick Amor Drawing Prize, The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballaarat/Ballarat, Australia
2012 Contemporary Australian Drawing #2: drawing as notation, text and discovery, University of Arts London, UK. Curator Dr Irene Barberis
2011 Crossing the Line: Drawing in the Middle East, intersections of understanding, Gallery Tashkeel & American University United Arab Emirates (UAE). Curated by Princess Shiekha Latifa and Dr Irene Barberis, Dubai
2010 2010: How can a Network.....? The South Project, curator Zara Stanhope, West Wing (part of West Space Gallery, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
2010 1918 ArtSPACE, No,20 Moganshan Rd, Shanghai, PR China
2010 2010 National Works on Paper (invitation), Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington, Australia
2010 Magnetic Islands, Project Space and Spare Room Gallery, RMIT University – a joint survey of contemporary drawing from Seoul University, RMIT University and the University of Arts London, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
2010 Distinction, 99 Creative Centre, Shanghai University Academy of Fine Arts, M50 Moganshan Lu Arts Complex; curator Song Kexi; writer/theorist Dr Qui Min., Shanghai, PR China
2009-2010 The Shilo Project, curator Dr Chris McAuliffe
2009-2010 The Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
2009-2010 National Exhibitions Touring Support to Mildura Arts Centre, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney,
2009-2010 Warrnambool Art Gallery, Wangaratta Exhibitions Gallery, Gippsland Art Gallery, Australia
2009-2010 Imagine, The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballaarat/Ballarat, Australia
2008 The Mars Project, Project Space and Spare Room Gallery, RMIT University, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
2007 Eye to ‘I’ - the self in recent art, curator Geoff Wallis
2007 The Art Gallery of Ballarat. National Exhibitions Touring Support to Warrnambool Regional Art Gallery, Hamilton Art Gallery, Australia
2006 Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, Bendigo Regional Gallery, dja dja wurrung/Bendigo, Australia
Collaborative Project (Recent)
2024 We Are Too Much And We Are Not Enough, Verein für Original-Radierung, Munich, Germany. Two-person exhibition: Julia Powles and Peter Westwood
Representation in Permanent Public Collections
Art Bank, Eora/Sydney, Australia.
Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballaarat/Ballarat. Painting Collection and the Prints and Drawing Collection, Australia
Auckland Art Gallery/Toi O Tamaki, Auckland, New Zealand.
Bayside City Council Art & Heritage Collection, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
Geelong Art Gallery, Djilang/Geelong, Australia.
National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. Works included in the Painting Collection (Shell Collection and the Michelle Endowment Collection) and the Prints and Drawing Collection.
RMIT University, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
Victoria University, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia.
Wollongong City Gallery, Woolyungah/Wollongong, Australia.