I’m not trying to make paintings about something. I’m trying to make paintings.
Wellington-based artist Gary Peters presents a group of small, gestural paintings made in an attempt to find, or re-discover, his own visual language.
Working intuitively, Peters is concerned with the making of non-objective works, rather than employing story or metaphor. He focusses on mark-making: pushing paint here, dragging it there and pulling it back again; sometimes gesturing lightly across the canvas surface or building up paint layer upon layer. Colours range from vibrant and chaotic to subtle and subdued. His paintings take time to resolve themselves; false starts and failures accumulate, become records of their own making, eventually finding the moment when all gestures – ugly and clumsy, fluid and lyrical – coalesce and the works becomes complete.
Selected works
Once Around the Bla
- Medium
- acrylic on canvas
- Dimensions
- 405 x 380mm
- Year
- 2020
Untitled (My Little Beautiful)
- Medium
- acrylic on plywood
- Dimensions
- 310 × 415mm
- Year
- 2019
Hot and Heavy (New Old Forms)
- Medium
- acrylic on canvas
- Dimensions
- 400 × 345mm
- Year
- 2018