Damien Minton Gallery

View Ravensworth Series exhibition catalogue and essay by Una Rey  here.

After the phenomenal response to Peter Gardiner’s exhibition ‘Ravenswoth Series’, 2-29 August, 2011,  the artist’s obsession with these landscapes, at once primordial and apocalyptic, has continued to grow. A selection of Gardiner’s most recent paintings will make up the Ravensworth Series Reprise.

Travelling through the upper Hunter Valley, Peter Gardiner was intrigued at the quality of the air in the district known as Ravensworth.

Thick with diesel, coal dust from the open cut mines and the steam from the electricity generators the atmosphere reminded him of the air  in Beijing that he experienced when he was part of the HARD SLEEPER project. This series evokes the ancient forests which would have once inhabited the area in order for the coal seams to develop and mature.

Using his visual memory of the European masters like Boucher (viewed last view as part of his Australia Council residency in Spain) Peter illustrates in a western Roccoco manner the ancient nature of the trees but also present day vulnerability.

As artist and writer Una Rey  states: “Defiant and ambitious, Gardiner’s pictures lick and dance around the spectacle of decay giving hope of restitution.”

Date of birth 27.4.1965

Education

1983-1990Bachelor of Arts (visual arts)
High Distinction in painting University of Newcastle

Selected Exhibitions

2011The Ravensworth Series, solo exhibition at Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern2011Muswellbrook Open Art Prize2011Callen Art Award, Cowra Regional Art Gallery2011Hard Sleeper Group Exhibition, Damien Minton Gallery2010Tempest, group exhibition with James Gleeson and Andy Devine, Newcastle Region Art Gallery2010Muswellbrook Open Art Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre2010Temple Drum, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing2010Landscape, Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern2010Barcelona Studies, Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern2009First letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern 2008The Kooragang Series, solo exhibition at the Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern 2007Dobell Drawing Prize, finalist, AGNSW 2007Solo exhibition, Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern 2007Mosman Art Prize, finalist 2006Kilgour Art Prize, Newcastle, finalist 2006Mosman Art Prize, finalist 2006Solo exhibition, debris fields, at the Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern 2006Winner, Maitland Art Prize 20052005: The Year In Art, invitation group exhibition at the S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney 2005Solo exhibition, new work at the Damien Minton Gallery, Redfern 2005Mosman Art Prize, finalist 2003solo exhibition, as the population grows, at the Damien Minton Gallery, Newcastle 2003Mosman Art Prize, finalist200312 artists from Newcastle in Sydney, the Depot Gallery, Waterloo presented by the damien minton gallery 2002Ten artists from Newcastle in Sydney, The Depot Gallery, Waterloo, Sydney presented by the damien minton gallery, Newcastle 2002Solo exhibition of new work, damien minton gallery, Newcastle 1999Legge Gallery, Sydney 1998Arcania Canberra Contemporary Art Space 1997new work Tin Sheds, University of Sydney 1996Arcane Reverie 3, Rocket Art, Newcastle 1995Arcane Reverie 2, Airspace, Canberra 1995Arcane Reverie, Rocket Art, Newcastle

Awards

2011Winner, Callen Art Award, Cowra Regional Art Gallery2011Highly Commended, Muswellbrook Open Art Prize2010Winner, Muswellbrook Open Art Prize2010Australia Council Studio, Residency, Barcelona2010Hard Sleeper project, Residency and exhibition, Redgate Gallery, Beijing2007Finalist, Dobell Drawing Prize, AGNSW 2006Finalist, The Kilgour Art Prize, Newcastle 2006Winner, Maitland Acquisitive Art Prize 1998art studio scholarship, Artspace, Woolloomooloo NSW Ministry of the Arts 1990Sulman Prize finalist, AGNSW and touring show 1989Sulman Prize finalist, AGNSW and touring show