MIKE PETRE

Landscape 141 (2013) oil on canvas, stretcher: 1147 x 1149 x 36 mm

Landscape 143 (2013) oil on canvas, stretcher: 1148 x 1149 x 36 mm

Landscape 139 (2013) oil on canvas, stretcher: 1301 x 1600 x 37 mm

Landscape 142 (2013) oil on canvas, stretcher: 1147 x 1149 x 36 mm

Landscape 140 (2013) oil on canvas, stretcher: 1147 x 1149 x 36 mm

Landscape 145 (2013) oil on board, frame: 787 x 688 x 40 mm, image: 556 x 451 mm

Landscape 147 (2013) oil on board, frame: 623 x 547 x 40 mm, image: 318 x 373 mm

Landscape 148 (2013) oil on board, frame: 622 x 547 x 40 mm, image: 318 x 373 mm

Landscape 144 (2013) oil on board, frame: 788 x 687 x 40 mm, image: 432 x 375 mm

Landscape 146 (2013) oil on board, frame: 790 x 689 x 40 mm, image: 453 x 463 mm

Landscape 149 (2013) oil on board, frame: 622 x 547 x 40 mm, image: 318 x 373 mm

Everylandscapetellsastoryofhowitisbeingusedandwhathashappenedbefore. InMikePetre’snewbodyofpaintingswewitnessaconsiderabledevelopmentinhis work.Acclaimedfortheiconic Field Study paintings,hehasnowsignificantly broadenedhisnarrativesoflocalisedruralexperienceandintroducedanew palette.In Stories in the Landscape Petregoesafterthehiddenlanguageofthe farmedenvironmentandwhatitisactuallysayingaboutroleandeverydayuse.

Petre’svisionofthefarmedenvironmentisthatoftheinsider.Hedoesnot romanticisenorcelebratebutfindsanendlesssuiteofstilllives.Hepresentsfacts–theharshstripsofsprayedverge;theupturned,reused,abandonedfishbin;the mutilatedstumpsandlimbsofmacrocarpatrees;theopen,denuded(fertilisedand sprayed)landscape;fencesandbuildingsmarkedbyrubbingsandage–as signifiers,containingthehistoryofanobjectanditsuse:thatitisthereforareason, eveniftheonlypurposemayprovetobeabandonment.

In Landscapes 139, 140 and 141 weseeintensebrightcoloursonthecutendsof randomlystackedlogs.Thisiswoodbeingweatheredorstoredforamillandthis colourcodedistinguishesthedifferenttypesofwood.Whencutintoplanksthat coderemainsontheendanditfunctionsasthecataloguingsystemofanormal ruralactivity.

Petrecontraststheolivebush,thepaintedelements,thegeometryofutilitarian buildings,seeminglyrandomorabandonedobjects,hackedbranchesandremnant stumps,withtheendlesspursuitandassumptionsofarchitecturalordercontainedin thedailybattleoneveryfarm,andinitsconstantlyusedlandscape.

Thisnewbodyofworkpresentstheenvironmentintenselyandinsharpfocus.Itisalso verypainterly,withbrushandpaletteknifeworkedsurfaces,strongoutlinesand colouroverlaysorbleeds.Thepaintingsin Stories in the Landscape carrydistinct languagesandinformationinapowerfullycompellingmanner.Theyrepresenta majorextensiontoMikePetre’snarrativeconcernsandasignificantcontributionby himtotheevolvingNewZealandlandscapetradition.Thesepaintingsexamineboth whatisgoingonnowandhowit’sbeingdone,andinthisprocesshelpustolook, seeandrecognise.

EXHIBITION PRICELIST

MIKE PETRE

b.1964,livesMatakana

FieldStudy193(2011)

“My work is a personal response to memory and experiences associated with spending a large part of my life immersed in rural environments. My paintings are not an attempt to elevate, idealise or romanticise the rural, but rather a means of exploring the notion of what it is, and what it means to be a ‘local’, and developing a visual language to convey this. New Zealand has a rich and varied history of landscape painting yet I feel little has been attempted within the visual arts to explore issues of localised rural experience and landscape. Historically New Zealand landscape painting depicts ‘visiting the landscape’ with all its implied transferral of ‘Urban Experience’, - a romanticising experience.” (1)

In the ‘field study’ series of works the animals have become the object of intense scrutiny. The background has been removed, “with the object becoming a landscape within themselves.” With gallery installation, the viewer is placed within the landscape and forced into “a degree of scrutiny many would be unfamiliar (if not uncomfortable) with… the reality of raising animals for slaughter and viewing the land for production necessitates objectification. My work is an attempt to capture this objectification, as well as negotiate ‘identity’ within the New Zealand landscape.” (2) The cattle paintings appear deceptively simple. “The images are actually built up through a sequence of processes.” In the ‘Field Study’ series the oil adds “to the dripped and drawn effect of the ink to give a sense of the wetness of living skin, a challenging immediacy. …The factual, unromantic approach to beef farming (the images in the ‘Steer’ series being marked with crayon as for meat-cuts or production lots) brings a confrontational edge to the vision of our landscape as picturesque or pastoral.” (3)

"When most of us look at cattle we interpret their returning gaze as gentle curiosity. Petre sees the eye contact as more of a challenge, an awareness of their fate and a "Bring it on" belligerent bravado by animals that inherently know they are born already defeated." (4)

Born Piopio, New Zealand 1964. Bachelor of Agriculture (Management), Massey University, Palmerston North, 1986. Bachelor of Design, Carrington Polytechnic, 1994. Raised on a sheep and beef farm in Piopio (King Country). Worked on farms in New Zealand before studying for an agriculture degree and in the UK and Israel afterwards.

Following his graduation from design studies, Petre was a founder member of Sturdee studios and in 1998 of Indicator studios. He began exhibiting via the studios in 1995 and since 1997 has exhibited in dealer galleries in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin. He has been a finalist in the three Wallace Awards he has entered (1998, 1999 & 2001) and in 2001 was featured in episode 4 of TVNZ’s ‘The Big Art Trip’.

1.Artist’sStatement,2002.

2.ibid.

3.HelenWatsonWhite,‘Fieldwork’,SundayStarTimes,16June2002.

4.BMWMagazine,Autumn2008.

EDUCATION

1994

MIKE PETRE

b.1964,livesMatakana

Bachelor of Design 3D, Carrington Polytechnic

1985 Bachelor of Agriculture (Management), Massey University

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2013 Stories in the Landscape, milford galleries queenstown

2012 New Works, milford galleries queenstown

2010 New Works, milford galleries queenstown

2009 New Works, milford galleries auckland

2007 New Works, McPherson Gallery, Auckland

2006 New Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2005

McPherson Gallery, Auckland

Mahurangi Gallery, Mahurangi Estate

2004 New Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2003 New Works, McPherson Gallery, Auckland

2002 Field Study, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2001 McPherson Gallery, Auckland

2000 McPherson Gallery, Auckland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2013 The Wood Show, The Vivian Gallery, Matakana

Small Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin

The Review, milford galleries queenstown

2012 Significant Works, Milford Galleries Dunedin

Small Works, milford galleries queenstown

The Royal Queenstown Easter Show, milford galleries queenstown

2011 The Earl Street Journal, milford galleries queenstown

Spring Catalogue, milford galleries queenstown

The Review, milford galleries queenstown

The Royal Queenstown Easter Show, milford galleries queenstown

The Earl Street Journal, milford galleries queenstown

2010 The Review, milford galleries queenstown

Spring Catalogue, milford galleries queenstown

2010 The Mahurangi Group, Matakana

The Royal Queenstown Easter Show, milford galleries queenstown

2009 Dawson, Petre, Arnold – Recent Works, milford galleries queenstown

2008 The Taranaki Gate, Percy Thomson Gallery, Stratford, Taranaki

2007 The Mahurangi Group, Villa Tamahunga, Matakana

2006 The Mahurangi Group, Puhoi

A & P Show: Art Goes Country, Christchurch Art Gallery

2005 The Mahurangi Group, Mahurangi Estate, Warkworth

2004 George Perry Gallery, Tauranga

Menagerie, North Shore Community Art Centre, North Shore

From the River to the Sea, The Mahurangi Group, Puhoi

2003 Indicator Studio Group Show, Auckland

2002 McPherson Gallery Group Show, Auckland

2001 Bowen Gallery Group Show

Wallace Art Awards Finalist Touring Exhibition

Indicator Studio Group Show

2000 McPherson Gallery ‘100 x 100’ Group Show, Auckland

Indicator Studio Group Show, Auckland

1999 Wallace Art Awards Finalist

100 x 100 Group Show, Drawings Gallery, Auckland Choice, McPherson Gallery, Auckland

milford galleries queenstown www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

1998 100 x 100 Group Show, Drawings Gallery, Auckland

Indicator, Studio Group Show

Wallace Art Awards Finalist

1997 100 x 100 Group Show, Drawings Gallery, Auckland

Sturdee Studio Group Show

1996 Sturdee Studio Group Show

1995 Sturdee Studio Group Show

AWARDS

2004

Finalist Art Waikato National Art Award

2003 Finalist Art Waikato National Art Award

2002

2001-2002

1998

Finalist Art Waikato National Art Award

Finalist and Touring Show Wallace Art Awards

Finalist Wallace Art Awards

1996 Finalist Wallace Art Awards

COLLECTIONS

Wallace Trust

Zealandia (Terry Stringer)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2009 Sunday Star Times, Sunday Magazine, January 2009

2008 NZ Life and Leisure, Issue 19, 2008

BMW Magazine, Feature Article, Autumn 2008

2007 New Zealand Herald, November 2007

New Zealand Herald, September 2007

NZ Lawyer, March, 2006

2006 Otago Daily Times, March, 2006

Otago Daily Times, July 2006

2005 New Zealand Herald, August, 2005

2004 Bay of Plenty Times, November 2004

New Zealand Listener, June, 2004

Home Front, TVNZ, Channel One, July, 2004

Critic, August, 2004

2003 Canvas, July, 2003

2002 Art News NZ, Winter, 2002

The Big Art Trip, TV NZ, Episode 4, screened Sept 2001 TV1, repeated Jan 2002

Otago Daily Times, June, 2002

Sunday Star Times, June, 2002

2001 New Zealand Herald, September, 2001

2000 Sunday Star Times, October, 2000

New Zealand Herald, October, 2000

Metro, June, 2000, pp. 94-99