JOHN PEART A selection from the estate
8 - 25 July 2015
JOHN PEART
A selection from the estate 8 – 25 July 2015 John Peart’s last solo exhibition of paintings was in September 2013 at
this gallery.
It was a successful exhibition; what one recalls most strongly was an impression that an understanding of the depth of John Peart as an artist was underway. This was reflected in Peart himself; he gave the impression that he had strayed into some enchanted land awaiting his exploration. For anyone close to Peart it was evident that much of his quiet euphoria flowed from the completion, three months earlier, of his new studio.
Watters Gallery
109 Riley Street, East Sydney NSW 2010 Ph: (02) 9331 2556 Fax: (02) 9361 6871 www.wattersgallery.com info@wattersgallery.com Hours: Tues and Sat: 10am - 5pm; Wed Thurs Fri 10am - 7pm
That’s where much of the exhibition was painted and already the walls were covered with paintings at different stages of completion, some suggesting unguessable new directions. The studio, the realisation of a decades-long dream is huge. In the case of many (most?) artists it would seem ostentatious, vastly self-indulgent, but, somehow set against the immensity of Peart’s vision and achievement it seemed quite appropriate. “When painting big I breathe a different air”, he once said and after only three months in his new studio an oxygen-rich exhilaration was evident.
So, the first exhibition of works painted or completed in the new studio opened on 11th September 2013.
The exhibition closed on 28 September. Three days later John Peart was found dead in the bush close to his studio. So much seemed to have died.
No 1. Tiru Blue 2011 oil on board 183 x 92cm Front and back cover, No 16. Reverie 1985 oil on canvas 170.5 x 122.5cm (detail)
When, in his early twenties, Peart left Australia for New York and the UK he had already made a name for himself. Then, mainly in letters from England, we can follow a thoughtfulness and a struggle with his thinking.
He looked at a lot of art and met up with many artists whose work he admired; he steeped himself in philosophical ideas. At first he believed that his ultimate aim should be to become a member of the avant garde – a goal to which one’s work progressed. But gradually the idea of ‘progress’ within art faded as his concern became solely, in his words, to create ‘moving and beautiful visual things‘. With this agenda of course his work changed, we might say developed, but in a way unplanned and innate. All his work, past and present, seemed to have an equal standing in his mind as if it were all current and recent, that is, in the present. This meant that to paint over a work was not a destruction of the past but an alteration and addition to the present. He seemed to have shared with TS Eliot in ‘Burnt Norton’ the notion that:
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present
So, here we are, July 2015, less than two years later, presenting a body of work selected from the John Peart Estate by his five children: Gara , Simon, Mirabai, Jyoti and Janaki. Geoffrey Legge – Watters Gallery
Exhibition dates Opens 6-8pm Wednesday 8 July 2015 Closes 5pm Saturday 25 July 2015
‘Wedderburn Ochre’ is one of a series of paintings John started in 1982 with Wedderburn in the title. It was the early 80’s when dad moved to Wedderburn with his young family. He was the last of the 5 original artists to join the ‘Widden Weddin’ group. His dear friend, the late Roy Jackson introduced him to artists and neighbours Elisabeth Cummings, Fred Braat and the late Joan Brassil. Back in the day we cleared land, dug earth, and hauled rocks. Houses and studios were built, children raised, paintings painted surrounded by family, friends, artists and the pristine bush, deep gorges and sacred water holes, once home to the Tharawal people. It was an energetic, hopeful, creative period for John and he was relishing the space. Although the 1970’s were productive years, gone were the disused poultry sheds and damp cowsheds that he used to paint in back in the UK. It was the first time in over 5 years that he had a big studio to work in. It was here he painted ‘Nandi Moon’, one of many large, magnificent paintings. You were always welcome for a cuppa and/or a curry (dad made very tasty curries) and if there was time (or even if there wasn’t), a tour of the studio and a chat about what he was working on. This is a special place, a permanent place, our family home and now his final resting place down past the new studio, along the path under the koala tree. Years earlier on a bushwalk with dad, he pointed up through the trees and said ‘if you focus on the space between the branches you see the shapes in a different way’. He was right. I saw things a little differently after that. John’s legacy is his unique visual language he shared with us on a bushwalk or articulated so profoundly and poetically through his work. Having always visited in the past, I recently spent a year living at Wedderburn. During this time, I got to know the bush, and the seasons, the birdcalls and night noises and myself better. I appreciate how Wedderburn light, color, form, shadow and line can be found everywhere in John’s work as I look for the spaces between the shapes. GARA PEART
Image opposite: No 2. Wedderburn Ochre 1989 oil on board 93 x 62cm
I am hypnotised by the beauty and untamed nature of Dad’s work, the ability he had to reveal the unexpected…elements that usually pervade the eye are exposed and naked, celebrated and announced. Dad had a way of seeing the world quite beautifully, like everything was essentially uncomplicated. You are that. The world just is. Or isn’t. Depending on how you decide to look at it… and his paintings are just that- gifted to the viewer as elegant puzzles; making you question what you are really seeing and experiencing and consider how all the elements were born to fit together. Each work has such a distinctive personality that draws you into its own world…like stepping into other dimensions, fluid and in flux; where pigments sing and dance, lively and unapologetic, galoofing with playful wit. The longer I look at Dad’s works, the more I lose myself in the world of them… as in meditation, something in me is suddenly stilled and at peace… I emerge feeling invigorated, inspired to live, to love, to create. To just Be. Gloaming II “Gloaming, or twilight, the time after sunset and before dark” – I remember being a special time of day… as after squeezing every last ray of usable natural sunlight to paint, Dad would finally put down his brush and retire for the day. Often this was the only time of day he would happily be social; be fully present with other people and relax… (until the rising of tomorrow’s sun.) JYOTI PEART
Image opposite: No 3. Gloaming II 1974-1991 acrylic on canvas 169.5 x 103cm
Zibar hung in the house while I lived with Dad as a teenager in 2003-2006. He had included in the design of the roof a reflective angle to direct natural light onto the sandy cement rendered wall on which the painting hung. It overlooked the dining, lounge and kitchen area all strewn with newspapers, art materials and mugs. For about four months Zibar hung at the centre of his living space. When I think of this time, my most notable memory of his lifestyle is that all aspects of his daily routine would be accompanied by the news. He bought newspapers daily but he would never throw any away so each room of the house would usually have a large, permanent stack of newspaper. The radio would be on when he wasn’t absorbed in painting and often also when he was. When the sun went down, the tumbling structure of Zibar would be lit by the evening news on TV and the fire he had started with old newspaper. When he hung a painting on that wall, I saw it as a gesture of pride but he would never openly admire the works he hung. It was as if he were testing to see how well a painting can embody a space or become a character of a time. It is true for me now that when looking at Zibar I remember Dad’s newspapers and his unbroken focus on the large-scale aspects of the outer as well as inner world. JANAKI PEART
Image opposite: No 4. Zibar 2003 oil and acrylic on canvas 170 x 240cm
Panel Painting I Split second glimpse a revelation
of never-before-seen play jostling life wonder
wonderful full
bursting dance
upon the screen of the infinite. This is truly seeing,
Thank you for giving me fresh eyes now, You wash my thoughts clear. The last time I saw Dad, at the final exhibition he had at Watters Gallery, I’d just had these feelings described. I’ll always be glad that I thanked him right then. Dad taught me to see. Through his works he still teaches me, challenges me, wakes me up. ‘Panel Painting I’, of the palette painting series, is a work that does just this. At first I didn’t understand this work. Now it’s a visual puzzle to contemplate, a puzzle whose pieces are constantly moving. In my childhood on walks through nature, Dad would beckon me to look, perhaps at the brilliant vermillion burst of new growth there against dancing lines of scarred bush, or the pattern of rust in a rock. I could see the joy these moments gave him. A mixture of amusement, wonder and non-attachment. Recognition. An instant of true connection with a visual moment within the true spontaneity, unpredictability and exuberance of nature. I have a feeling this was one of Dad’s favourite ways to interact with the world. Though he loved to share these insights, in general these musings must have been pure and private. I’m sure this was a primary motivation behind his works. I get the sense he was at once a student, a devotee, and master of visual surprise. Some of his works jump and jostle about eternally. Other works may let our eyes settle into their pattern, but always there is further to see, deeper to look. MIRABAI PEART Image opposite:
No 5. Panel Painting 1 2009 oil on board panels 130 x 120cm
No 6. No 3 1987 oil on canvas 122 x 290cm
This piece, No 3, (illustrated next page) was one of several similar works that were stored at Wedderburn. Some were removed from their stretchers and rolled up, some badly weathered. I had the impression that they were not considered particularly precious to Dad, that they had been part of the outpouring of work from a previous era and had only escaped the reworking/over-painting that so many of his earlier painting were subject to by hiding somewhere in a dark corner of the studio. It is the pared down exploration of linear rhythm and pictorial space that I feel a connection with. Although he tended not to talk explicitly about the visual influences in his work I feel that there were some very strong visual elements around John in the 80s and early 90s that may have snuck into his paintings. It was during the 80s that he first moved to Wedderburn and we began building the family home. Clearing of the building site created rectangles of light sandy ground. Into this a series of trenches were cut in shallow relief then grids of formwork were laid into the trenches and floated above the surface. Pouring the concrete slab concealed all that at the same time providing a pristine new ground. Then Cyprus pine stud walls rose and through their intersecting planes the sinuous organic weaving of trees and bush becomes the visual ground for the next layer of texture, a matrix of steel rods and fine mesh. Finally blobs and smears of render begin to fill up the entire foreground until only glimpses of substructure remained. ‘Surrender to the render’ was our mantra. SIMON PEART
Image opposite: No 7. Untitled 2005 oil on board panels 120.5 x 120.4cm
No 8. Inscription XXXVIII 2000 oil on board 39.6 x 31.9cm
No 10. Inscription XXIX 2000 oil on board 39.9 x 30cm
No 9. Formations and Inscriptions XXVII 1998 oil on board 38 x 28cm
No 11. Inscription XXI 2000 oil on board 37.5 x 30cm
No 12. Untitled (Black and white)
2011 (circa) oil on canvas on boards 125 x 194.5cm
Once again, in this painting Unproven Theory II, a visual game offers a playful paradox. The mind is tricked into accepting that what it sees may not have a fixed definition. We are free to see what we will yet there is no guarantee that the figures, objects, grounds and spaces will behave in the way we expect. Nevertheless the rules of the game seem to hold true and we are invited to regard and gauge the integrity of a discrete region of the artist’s inner world. Inscriptions occur where intention, material and action come together in ways that can send a message through time. The gesture is sustained so that many years later another eye, another being, might respond to that moment, like marks on a clay tablet telling a young scholars version of the legends of Gilgamesh or a symbolic declaration of love scratched into the bark of tree. Or perhaps there is no intended message. The moment is still recorded as in the dragging of a lizards tail through sand, the fossilized meandering of a worm in silt and all those scrapes and scratches that come from the accidental collision of the rough with the smooth. Such marks attract the eye and compel the mind to seek meaning whether or not intention played a part. SIMON PEART
Image: No 13. Unproven Theory II 2000 oil on canvas 76.5 x 63cm Image opposite: No 14. Shadows and Reflections 1985-89? oil on canvas 128.5 x 83.5 cm
No 15. Wedderburn Grey 1982 oil on linen 173.2 x 122cm
No 16. Reverie 1985 oil on canvas 170.5 x 122.5cm
No 18. Untitled 1998-2000? oil on board 20.5 x 30.8cm
No 17. Untitled 1998-2000? oil on board 30.5 x 18.5cm
No 20. Panel Painting 04/1 2004 synthetic polymer on board panels 151 x 121cm
JOHN PEART A selection from the estate 8 – 25 July 2015
No 19. Untitled 1995-98? oil on canvas 86 x 64cm
1.
Tiru Blue 2011
oil on board
183 x 92cm
2.
Wedderburn Ochre
oil on board
93 x 62cm
3.
Gloaming II 1974-1991
acrylic on canvas
169.5 x 103cm
4.
Zibar 2003
oil and acrylic on canvas
170 x 240cm
5.
Panel Painting 1
2009
oil on board panels
130 x 120cm
6.
No 3 1987
oil on canvas
122 x 290cm
7.
Untitled 2005
oil on board panels
120.5 x 120.4cm
8.
Inscription XXXVIII
2000
oil on board
39.6 x 31.9cm
9.
Formations and Inscriptions XXVII
1998
oil on board
38 x 28cm
10. Inscription XXIX
2000
oil on board
39.9 x 30cm
11. Inscription XXI 2000
oil on board
37.5 x 30cm
12. Untitled (Black and white) 2011 (circa)
oil on canvas on boards
125 x 194.5cm
13. Unproven Theory II
2000
oil on canvas
76.5 x 63cm
14. Shadows and Reflections
1985-89?
oil on canvas
128.5 x 83.5 cm
15. Wedderburn Grey
1982
oil on linen
173.2 x 122cm
16. Reverie 1985
oil on canvas
170.5 x 122.5cm
17. Untitled 1998-2000?
oil on board
30.5 x 18.5cm
18. Untitled 1998-2000?
oil on board
20.5 x 30.8cm
19. Untitled 1995-98?
oil on canvas
86 x 64cm
20. Panel Painting 04/1
synthetic polymer on board panels
151 x 121cm
1989
2004
JOHN PEART 1945 - 2013 Teaching 1978-1986 Painting, East Sydney Technical College (final year students) 1993-1994 Painting, East Sydney Technical College (final year students)
Selected Individual Exhibitions 2015/1967 35 solo exhibitions at Watters Gallery, Sydney 2011 John Peart Collages, Heiser Gallery, Brisbane 2008 Tetrads, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne 2004 John Peart - Paintings 1964 - 2004, Campbelltown Arts Centre Travelling Exhibition touring NSW, Tasmania, Canberra, Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland 1989 Monotypes, Milburn + Arte, Brisbane 1988 Monotypes, Macquarie Galleries, Sydney 1986 Galerie Dusseldorf, Perth 1985 John Peart, Selected Painting 1964 76, Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne (and 6 solo shows) 1982 Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne (and 1985, 1988, 1990) Seven Paintings by John Peart, 123 Charlotte St. Brisbane 1980 Solander Gallery, Canberra 1979 Victor Mace Fine Art Gallery, Brisbane (and 1986) 1977 Realities Gallery, Melbourne 1974 Abraxas Gallery, Canberra (Inaugural Exhibition) (and 1976) 1972 Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
Selected Group Exhibitions 2015 2014 2013 2011 2009
Joe Frost and John Peart: small works on paper, Watters Gallery, Sydney Watters Gallery – 5 Decades, S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney Six Artists / Seven Days, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney Sydney Contemporary Art Fair, Carriageworks, Sydney Abstraction, Drill Hall Gallery, ANU, Canberra Salon des Refuses, S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney Wynne Prize selection, Art Gallery of New South Wales
2007 2006 2005 1999 1998 1997 1996 1994 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986/87 1986 1984 1983 1982 1977
2007: The Year in Art, S H Ervin Gallery, Observatory Hill, Sydney The Year in Art, S.H Ervin Gallery, Observatory Hill, Sydney The Year in Art, S.H Ervin Gallery, Observatory Hill, Sydney The Year in Art, S.H.Ervin Gallery, Sydney Field Work: Australian Art 1968- 2002, National Gallery of Victoria Australia Day Ambassadors for 1998Exhibition, Government House, Sydney Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Archibald Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Wynne Prize Exhibition (winner), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Triennial Exhibition of Contemporary Australian Art, National Gallery of Victoria Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Sulman Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney The Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney The Wynne Prize Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales Portrait of a Gallery, Watters Gallery 25th anniversary exhibition, 8 regional centres until 1991 Drawing in Australia from 1770’s to 1980’s, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Field to Figuration, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Painters & Sculptors, Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan Surface for Reflexion, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 20 Years of Abstraction, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney The Field Now, Heide Park and Art Gallery, Melbourne Project 41: The Mosaic/The Grid, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Australian Perspecta 1983, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Twelve Australian Painters, Art Gallery of Western Australia Tribute to Mervyn Horton, Art Gallery of New South Wales Australian Paintings and Sculpture, 1956 1981: A Survey from the Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney The Seventies: Australian Paintings and Tapestries from the Collection of the National Australia Bank, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Australian Colorists ‘77, Western Australian Institute of Technology, Perth
1976 1974 1973 1969 1968 1967 1966 1965
Outlines of Australian Printmaking, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Victoria Philip Morris Arts Grant (first annual exhibition) Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Victoria Ten Years, Watters Gallery, Sydney Contemporary Australian Painting and Sculpture (toured New Zealand) Recent Australian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Australian Art Today, (toured Indonesia) The Field, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne and Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney Four Sydney Painters, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne Sydney Painters, Auckland Festival of Art, Auckland, New Zealand Survey of Young Australian Painters, Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
Awards and Prizes 2002 2000 1997 1997 1996 1976 1976 1974 1969 1968 1968 1968 1968
Universities and Schools Club Invitation Art Award Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales Wynne Prize Kedumba Drawing Prize Festival Of Fisher Ghost Art Prize Visual Arts and Crafts Board Grant Dalby Art Prize Philip Morris Arts Grant Myer Foundation Grant Transfield Prize Pacesetter Prize; Mirror – Waratah Prize Newcastle Prize NBN 3 Prize
Exhibition catalogue Watters Gallery, Sydney 5 - 25 July 2015 © Artist,John Peart Estate Photographer: Diane Larter This catalogue is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted by the Copyright Act no part may be reproduced by any other process without written permission.
Selected Collections National Gallery of Australia Art Gallery of New South Wales Queensland Art Gallery Art Gallery of Western Australia Art Gallery of South Australia National Gallery of Victoria Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney Macquarie University Wollongong City Art Gallery, New South Wales Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery New Parliament House, Canberra Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Victoria Albury Regional Gallery New England Regional Art Museum, New South Wales Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston Newcastle Art Gallery Warrnambool Art Gallery, Victoria University of Sydney
University of Western Australia Shepparton Art Gallery, Victoria Artbank Dawson Waldron Allens Arthur Robinson Baker & McKenzie B.H.P. Billiton Queensland Art Gallery and Museum Monash University University of New South Wales City Art Institute, Sydney Philip Cox and Partners Pty. Ltd Kedumba Drawing Prize Collection Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Perth Tasmanian College of Advanced Education Orange City Art Gallery, New South Wales Australian National University Dalby Art Gallery, Queensland Philip Morris Art Purchase Grant Brisbane Civic Art Gallery and Museum Kerry Stokes Collection, Western Australia