nine key works
1. PETER JAMES SMITH, Brandish Your Crystal Tresses in the Sky (2008) oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 1220 x 917 x 35 mm
2. PETER JAMES SMITH, Paradise
on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 915 x 1680 x 35 mm
3. PETER JAMES SMITH, The Universe Hanging by a Golden Thread
Floor of Heaven (2008) oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 915 x 1681 x 35 mm
2. DETAIL VIEW PETER JAMES SMITH, Paradise Lost VII (2008)
3. DETAI L VI EW PETER JAMES SMITH, The Universe Hanging by a Golden Thread From the Floor of Heaven (2008)
4 PETER JAMES SMITH, Landfall (2008), oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 1677 x 915 x 35 mm
DETAI L VI EW PETER JAMES SMITH, Landfall (2008)
5. PETER JAMES SMITH, The Text Fails As The Cultural Fabric Fades (2005) oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 1222 x 916 x 36 mm
5. DETAIL VIEW PETER JAMES SMITH, The Text Fails As The Cultural Fabric Fades (2005)
6. PETER JAMES SMITH, Dumont D'Urville At French Pass, 28 January
oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 916 x 1680 x 35 mm
7. PETER JAMES SMITH, The Measure Of Aoraki (2006)
) oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 917 x 1833 x 38 mm
8. PETER JAMES SMITH, Notes From Farewell Spit (2008
on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 915 x 1680 x 35 mm
9. PETER JAMES SMITH, The Passage
oil on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 915 x 1680 x 35 mm
8. DETAIL VIEW PETER JAMES SMITH, Notes From Farewell Spit (2008)
9. DETAIL VIEW PETER JAMES SMITH, The Passage Of History (2007)
studies
10. PETER JAMES SMITH The Sublime Echo - Study IV (The Wetjacket Arm, Dusky Bay) (2008), oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 205 x 310 x 35 mm
11. PETER JAMES SMITH The Sublime Echo - Study XIII (Lewis Pass) (2008), oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 204 x 309 x 35 mm
12. PETER JAMES SMITH The Sublime Echo - Study XVI (The Eastern Shore) (2008), oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 204 x 306 x 35 mm
13. PETER JAMES SMITH The Sublime Echo - Study XVIII (The Gates of Haast) (2008), oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 205 x 307 x 35 mm
14. PETER JAMES SMITH The Sublime Echo - Study XXX (Piopiotahi) (2008), oil on linen, stretcher (v x h x d): 205 x 308 x 35 mm
Melbourne based Peter James Smith is Head of Art at the prestigious RMIT Art School, a world acknowledged authority on statistical mathematics, and one of a select group of New Zealand artists exhibiting in NZ and Australia regularly. In 2009, a major mid-career survey show was held at the Gippsland Art Gallery, Victoria.
As revealed in the title, Nine Key Works 2002-08, this exhibition serves to highlight very significant works, and that Peter James Smith has charted a direction no other New Zealand artist has. His combination of pictorial representation and abstract space, along with other devices (such as handwritten text, cinematic borders) and the manner in which he unifies (a history of) intellectual and physical endeavour with visual experience, the specifics of place and the essences of moments (or events) come to forge the unmistakeable duality at the heart of his unique, memorable work.
Smith overlays a written narrative upon the landscape, making no attempt to deliver something finite – he is constructing a (partial) window to that landscape, event and knowledge. He deliberately leaves space for the viewer to enquire and participate and in this way expects that the viewer can and will, or could and should, enter the dialogues and experience the work in multiple and various ways. For some, it will be the romantic beauty of the sublime landscape that entices; for others, the intellectual endeavour and human spirit of enquiry that spurs and animates.
He uses history, literature, scientific enquiry, the significant journeys of navigators (whether travelling the oceans or entering the world of the cosmos) and collapses time into moments of awe. Collectively his work states that the enquiries of art, mathematics, science, philosophy and the exploits of great human endeavour are in essence united, not at all separate and so share the same objectives.
EXHIBITION PRICELIST
prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition
PETER JAMES SMITH
b. 1954, lives Melbourne
TheLastRetreatOfTheKaitmamo(2007)
Peter James Smith: “My work gathers together phases of scientific endeavour by placing data, text, references and graffiti across an illusionistic visual field. The gathering of data, codes, signifiers and histories into a current woven text is a particularly post-modern stance. It provides the artist with a curator’s brief. It sits well with the scientist who creates new work by formally referencing the pioneering work of others in the field. In this sense scientists don’t ‘appropriate’, they build on the past.” 1
“Smith paints with an enviable fluency in two abstract languages – mathematics and art – each carefully presented to perform a specific role in his Socratic argument. Both languages strive for elegance, but we are used to seeing them apart, so he uses vernacular painting to seduce. Then through his arcane scientific medium he delivers a sudden virtuosity of spirit. Together, they create a crisp tension of ideas, at once charming and vigorous, with painterly abstractions of land or sky scapes beneath the overlay of words or data describing the scene, often scrawled in blackboard freehand. …Huge, bilingual abstractions loaded with the emotional charge of each language, art and science: double-barrelled depictions that simultaneously bring us closer to the moment of the event itself, incidentally consider the languages we use and take us to the edge.” 2
Peter James Smith is widely published as a mathematician and holds the degrees BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD with a Master of Fine Art in Painting. He is Professor of Mathematics and Art at RMIT University in Melbourne where he is Head of the School of Creative Media (photography, creative writing, screenwriting, film and television production, video production, multimedia, music production, digital art, computer gaming). He has just completed an Australia Research Council Grant in the area of statistical modelling of censored data. His paintings are held in many public, private and corporate collections in New Zealand, Australia and internationally.
References:
1. Artist’s Statement, 2000.
2. Keith Stewart, ‘Life Science’, Listener, 2 August 1997
PETER JAMES SMITH
b. 1954, lives Melbourne
EDUCATION
2002 – 2003 MFA (Painting), RMIT University, Melbourne
1984 PhD, University of Western Australia
1980 MS, Rutgers University
1976 BSc (Hons), University of Auckland
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2009 Histories Reprised from art and science, John Leech, Auckland
2008 Truth + Beauty (curated by Claire Watson), Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, Victoria, Australia
The Sublime Echo; Milford Galleries Dunedin
2007 Truth + Beauty, Judith Anderson Galleries, Hawkes Bay
Truth + Beauty, Gallery 101, Collins St, Melbourne, Australia
Truth + Beauty, Brooke/Gifford Gallery, Christchurch
2006 Truth + Beauty, Milford Galleries, Dunedin
Truth + Beauty, Edmiston Duke Gallery, Auckland
2005 Illumined by Darkness, Edmiston Duke Gallery, Auckland
Navigator, Milford Galleries Queenstown
Close to the Eastern Shore, Judith Anderson Galleries, Hawkes Bay Illumined by Darkness, Gallery 101, Collins St, Melbourne, Australia
2004 The Substance of Clouds, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland
Stills from ‘Fading Light’, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
2003 Fading Light, Milford Galleries, Dunedin, Fading Light, Gallery 101, Collins St, Melbourne, Australia
2002 Underlapping Science, Michael Nagy Fine Art, Sydney, Australia
Always through the dark; Notes on the continuing presence of history, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland
2001 A Cinematic Trace, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland, Underlapping Science, Gallery 101, Melbourne, Australia
2000 Marks of the Navigator, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland View, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
1999 Deep Field Measure, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington
It is by gathering data that we come to know about the world, Gallery 101, Melbourne, Australia
1998 Elements, Gallery 101, Collins St, Melbourne, Australia
Making Notes on the Visible, Milford House, Dunedin Remarks on Space·time, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland
1997 Figuring The Drift of Stars, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland
1996 Data Frames, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington Hypertext, Gallery 101, Collins St, Melbourne, Australia
1995 Signs of Man, The Suter Gallery – Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson Gathering Data, R.K.S. Art, Auckland
1994 Recent Work, Janne Land Gallery, Wellington Statistical Text, Monash University Gallery, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
1993 Moa Walk, R.K.S. Art, Auckland
1991 Attractor, R.K.S. Art, Auckland
1990 Archimedes Crying, R.K.S. Art, Auckland
Archimedes Crying, The Suter Gallery – Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson
1989 Zero Crossing, Faculty of Visual and Performing Arts, Ballarat University, Ballarat, Australia
1988 Across Two Waters: A Survey, Faculty Gallery, Faculty of Art and Design, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009 Southern Landscape, milford galleries queenstown Masterworks, milford galleries queenstown
2008 Masterworks, milford galleries queenstown
Orchestra, sculptural installation with sound artists Kipps Horn and Barry Hill, The Field, School of Creative Media, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Anthology, curated by Dianna Gold, Gallery 101, Melbourne, Australia.
2007 3 x 5, milford galleries auckland
Sight Scene: A top of the South Art Tour—Celebrating the Suter’s Collection, curated by Julie Catchpole, The Suter, Te Aratoi o Whakatu
2006 Small Works, Gallery 101, Collins St, Melbourne, Australia
Recent Works: Peter James Smith, JS Parker, Kathy Barber, Scott McFarlane, Cheryl Lucas, milford galleries queenstown
Salon, curated by Catherine Wolfhagen, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Australia
Location South, milford galleries queenstown
2005 Art at Heart, selected work from the Suter Collection, The Suter, Te Aratoi o Whakatu
Crossover: 13 artists investigating cross-cultural influences, CUSP Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
2004 Textures of Place, milford galleries queenstown
Inaugural exhibition, Judith Anderson Gallery—Hawkes Bay Compendium, ICON Museum of Art, Deakin University, curated by Martina Copley, Melbourne, Australia
The Transit of Venus, milford galleries queenstown, Dunedin and Auckland Artfair 04, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne, Australia
2003 Inaugural Exhibition, Michael Nagy at Jersey Road, Michael Nagy Fine Art, Sydney, Australia Compendium, Platform 5, curated by Martina Copley, Melbourne, Australia
Future Perfect, curated by Gerard Castles and Dick Bett, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania OverView, Is As: Landscape as metaphor, Milford Galleries Dunedin Strata, Postgraduate exhibition, Class of 2003, RMIT University, Melbourne
2002 The Postcard Show, Linden Gallery, St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia
The 2002 John Leslie Art Prize: Art refers to Environment, juried exhibition of finalists, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, Victoria, Australia
Wyndham City Contemporary Art Prize 2002, juried exhibition of finalists, Melbourne, Australia
Synergy, A collaborative exhibition between artists and scientists, curated by Dick Bett, CSIRO Marine Laboratories, Hobart, Tasmania
Melbourne Artfair 2002, 8th Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne, Australia. (Represented by Gallery 101, Melbourne, Michael Nagy Fine Art, Sydney.)
Bendigo Bank Tattersall’s Club Art Prize, juried exhibition of finalists, Brisbane, Australia
2001 Australia---You Are Here! Four perspectives of landscape through painting and photography, Gallery 101 at Flemington, Melbourne, Australia
2000 Annual Exhibition, Mobile Art, Auckland
The Numbers Game, Adam Art Gallery--Te Pataka Toi, Wellington
Melbourne Artfair 2000, 7th Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne, Australia.
Stand 33 @ Gallery 101, A Melbourne Artfair 2000 Satellite Exhibition, Gallery 101, Collins St, Melbourne, Australia
SQuaRE 2000, Gallery 101, Collins St, Melbourne, Australia
Mathematics and Art, Bond University Art Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
1999 Catalogue Show, Milford House, Dunedin
Salon des Refusees, curated exhibition of entries from the Archibald and Wynne Prizes, S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Australia
Looking South-across time, distance, place and culture, Milford Galleries, Dunedin
Eighth Annual Wallace Art Awards in Association with the Visa Gold Art Award, juried exhibition of finalists, Wallace Trust Gallery, Auckland
Director’s Choice, Gallery 101, Melbourne, Australia
Exhibition Space, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland
1998 Summer Survey 1998: Robert McLeod, Allen Maddox, Peter James Smith, John Parker, Philippa Blair, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland
PeterJamesSmith2010CV milford galleries queenstown www.milfordgalleries.co.nz
Picturing History, Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch
Sixth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne, Australia
Art for Life, Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch
Director’s Choice, Gallery 101, Melbourne, Australia
1997 3 Major Surveys of Modern New Zealand Art, Milford Galleries, Dunedin Director’s Choice, Gallery 101, Melbourne, Australia
1996 Shifting Ground, Moonee Valley Festival Contemporary Art Prize 1996, curated by Sharyn Dawson, Melbourne, Australia
Fifth Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Melbourne Royal Exhibition Buildings, Melbourne, Australia
The Land, Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch Re-view, Gallery 101, Melbourne, Australia
1995 Herald-Sun Art Award, juried exhibition of finalists, Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne, Australia Artworkz Seven, 101 Collins Street Acquisitive Prizes 1995, juried exhibition of finalists, Gallery 101, Melbourne, Australia
1994 New Year/New Work, R.K.S. Art, Auckland
1992 A Breath of Fresh Art---A selection of recent art works by 35 New Zealand artists, The Bath·House Art and History Museum, Rotorua
1986 Inaugural Exhibition, Editions Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia
SELECTED AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIPS
2009 Antarctica New Zealand Arts Fellowship
1999 Eighth Annual Wallace Art Awards in Association with the Visa Gold Art Award, Wallace Trust Gallery, Auckland
1996 Moonee Valley Festival Contemporary Art Prize 1996,
1995 Herald-Sun Art Award, finalist, Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne, Australia
COLLECTIONS
Department of Mathematics, University of Auckland
Auckland Hospital Board, Auckland
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Victoria University of Wellington
Rothmans Cultural Foundation
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne, Australia
Air New Zealand
Eastern Energy, Melbourne, Australia
La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
101 Collins Street, Melbourne, Australia
National Australia Bank, Melbourne, Australia
Massey University, Albany Campus, Auckland
Wallace Trust Collection, Auckland
The University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
The Suter Gallery – Te Aratoi o Whakatu, Nelson
BHP Billliton Collection, Melbourne, Australia
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2007 Smith, Peter James, Rediscovering lines of longitude—signs of ’New Capture’ for art practice at postmodernism’s demise, in Visual Animals—Crossovers, Evolution and New Aesthetics, Ian North (ed), Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia
2005 Smith, Peter James, The text stares back, refereed conference proceedings, School of Creative Media, RMIT University
2000 Smith, Peter James, 1st Australian Conference on Mathematics and Art, Keynote speaker, Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia
1999 Smith, Peter James, Auckland Writers Festival, Invited speaker, , 28 May
1994 Nelson, Robert, Speculations on the Empirical Lyre of Peter James Smith, Statistical Text, exhibition catalogue, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1996 Stewart, Keith, Ditch—Peter James Smith: painting the gap, catalogue essay, Gallery 101, Melbourne, Australia
1997 Stewart, Keith, Life Science, New Zealand Listener, 2 August
1999 Marshall, Ben, Painting x Numbers, Australian Style, 31, 101
Kerr, Elizabeth, Looking South - across time, distance, place and culture, catalogue essay, Milford Galleries, Dunedin
Smith, Peter James, Orbital Elements, Art News, Spring, 24 & 25
2000
Gregory, John, Peter James Smith: It is by gathering data that we come to know about the world, Eyeline, 41, 48--9
Baskett, Pat, All-rounder for our post-modern times, New Zealand Herald, Auckland, NZ, 24 April
Stanhope, Zara, The Numbers Game, catalogue essay, Adam Art Gallery, Te Pataka Toi, Wellington, NZ
Suzie Campbell, ‘Beyond the Known World: The Paintings of Peter James Smith’, Art New Zealand, 97, 82--85
David Famularo, Mathematical Musings, The Dominion, Wellington, NZ, 17 November
Radok , Stephanie, A water or a light, Artlink, 21, 51--52
Copley, Martina, Terrain, catalogue essay, A Cinematic Trace, Judith Anderson Gallery, Auckland
Martina Copley, The Ship’s Wake, catalogue essay, Underlapping Science, Gallery 101, Melbourne; Michael Nagy Fine Art, Sydney, Australia
2001 Hutchings, Patrick, Number is the Wisest Thing, catalogue essay, Underlapping Science, Gallery 101, Melbourne, Michael Nagy Fine Art, Sydney, Australia
McGahey, Kate, The Concise History of New Zealand Artists, Painters, Printmakers and Sculptors, Gilt Edge Publishing: Wellington (citation)
2002 Synergy, exhibition catalogue, CSIRO Marine Research Laboratories, Hobart, Tasmania
2006 McCulloch, A., S. McCulloch and E. McCulloch Childs, McCulloch’s Encyclopaedia of Australian Art, The Miegunyah Press: Victoria, Australia, p897 (citation)
2005 Armstrong, John, The Art of the Modern Sublime, catalogue essay, Illumined by Darkness, Edmiston Duke Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2007 Furphy, John, Australian Art Sales Digest; A Survey of Australian and New Zealand Sales of Art at Auction over ten years from 1993 to 2007; Acorn Antiques: Armadale, Victoria, Australia
2008 Watson, Claire, Truth + Beauty, catalogue essay, Truth + Beauty, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, Victoria
Pearce, Suzannah (ed), Who’s Who in Victoria; Inaugural Edition, Crown Content: Melbourne, Australia
