PETER WESTWOOD PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: BIO SYNOPSIS
Background to practice
Peter Westwood is an artist, curator and arts writer living in Melbourne. For many years Peter’s work has concentrated on ideas about being within unsettled conditions. In this, he has worked through a long-standing interest in painting, but also video, drawing, installation and collage. And over the past two decades Peter has also focused on the complementary relationship of art making, writing and curating. In his approach to his work Peter seeks to consider the artwork as immanent to experience, and as much an ‘event’ as an object. His work has formed through ideas that reinforce of the passing nature of experience rather than as representation or imitation, or the depiction of a ‘thing’ or an affect
Peter has been included in group, and individual exhibitions in public and commercial galleries in Australia and overseas. His work is included in the permanent collections of art museums, regional galleries and corporations, and he has curated two to three annual exhibition projects for the past 20 years in Australia, and periodically overseas.
PETER WESTWOOD PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: ART PRACTICE
EDUCATION
2013 - Research Higher Degree Candidate: PhD
School of Art, RMIT University (concurrent)
1995 Master of Arts Degree by Research
School of Art, Monash University
1982 Graduate Diploma in Education
School of Education, University of Melbourne
1981 Graduate Diploma of Fine
School of Art, RMIT University
1978 Diploma of Fine Art
School of Art, The University of Ballarat (Federation University)
RECENT AWARDS, GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES
2014 Artist residency: LIA - The Leipzig International Art Program, Germany
2012 Project Grant, City of Melbourne
2010 Artist residency: East China Normal University, Shanghai, PR China
2002 Curatorial residency: Crossing: New Art from Australia, an exhibition of contemporary Australian art, ÄLTO, Helsinki Finland.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 NKN Gallery, Melbourne
2015 The Poor Hospital, NKN Gallery, Melbourne
2013 Drive, Blindside ARI, Melbourne
Staring back at the world, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney
2011 Look out, Jenny Port Gallery, Melbourne
2010 Dieback, Jenny Port Gallery, Melbourne
2009 48 Portraits, Jenny Port Gallery, Melbourne
2006 Hard Times, The Doll’s House, Melbourne
2004 Similarities and differences, Crossley and Scott Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Shape, Crossley and Scott Gallery, Melbourne
1996 Things that have happened, Temple Studio, Melbourne
1995 Fruit of the forest, School of Art, Monash University, Melbourne
1992 Bandwagons, Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1991 Untitled (Paintings), Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1989 Assemblages, Reconnaissance Gallery, Melbourne
1988 Paintings, Reconnaissance Gallery, Melbourne
1986 Drawings, Reconnaissance Gallery, Melbourne
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015 The Door in the Wall, curated by Verity Hayward and Lucie McIntosh, Blindside ARI, Melbourne
2014 Head: Incidents Above a Bar (part 4), curated by Louise Paramour and Lisa Young, The Alderman, Melbourne
Asteroid, Winter Spinnerei 2014, Leipzig International Artist in Residence Program (LIA), Spinnerei Arts Complex, Leipzig, Germany
2013 Reading the Space: Contemporary Australian Drawing #3, New York Studio School, New York, USA
2012 A place to eat from, Michael Jäger Collection, Atelier Dorrit Nebe, Cologne, Germany
(http://www.mesamis-mesamies.de)
People … ahh People, Gallery Mesh, Seoul, South Korea; curator Mihwa Park
The Rick Amor Drawing Prize, The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat
Contemporary Australian Drawing #2: drawing as notation, text and discovery, University of Arts London, UK; 120 Langford Street, Melbourne; curator Dr Irene Barberis
2011 Crossing the Line: Drawing in the Middle East, intersections of understanding, Gallery Tashkeel & American University United Arab Emirates (UAE), curated by Princess Shiekha Latifa and Dr Irene Barberis, Dubai
Australian Art of the 1970’s. The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat
2010 2010: How can a Network…..? The South Project, curator Zara Stanhope, West Wing (part of the program of West Space Gallery, Melbourne
1918 ArtSPACE, No,20 Moganshan Rd, Shanghai, PR China
Winter, Jenny Port Gallery, Melbourne
2010 Beleura National Works on Paper, (invitation) Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington
Magnetic Islands, Project Space and Spare Room Gallery, RMIT University – a joint survey of contemporary drawing from Seoul University and RMIT University – project component of the international Drawing Out Conference conducted by RMIT University and the University of Arts London, Melbourne
Distinction, 99 Creative Centre, Shanghai University Academy of Fine Arts, M50 Moganshan Lu Arts Complex; curator Song Kexi; writer/theorist Qui Min., Shanghai
2009 - 2010 The Shilo Project, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, curator Dr Chris McAuliffe
NETS touring exhibition: Mildura Arts Centre, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Wangaratta Exhibitions Gallery, Gippsland Art Gallery, Australia
Imagine, The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat
2008 The Mars Project, Project Space and Spare Room Gallery, RMIT University, Melbourne
2007 Eye to ‘I’ - the self in recent art, curator Geoff Wallis
The Art Gallery of Ballarat. NETS touring exhibition: Warrnambool Art Gallery, Hamilton Art Gallery, Australia
2006 Robert Jacks Drawing Prize, Bendigo Regional Gallery, Bendigo
The men’s gallery, curator, Rebecca Mayo. The Doll’s House, Melbourne
2003 Group Show 2, Crossley and Scott Gallery, Melbourne
2002 Group Show, Crossley and Scott Gallery, Melbourne
2001 31st Alice Prize, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
Mediations, curator, David Harley. Mass Gallery, Melbourne
1997 The Sulman Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1996 Superstar, Billboard project funded by Arts Victoria, Melbourne
A Centre of Culture, The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat
1992 Scotchmans Hill Art Prize, Geelong Regional Gallery, Geelong
1991 Painting, Powell Street Gallery, Melbourne
1989 The ICI contemporary exhibition, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, and Regional galleries in Victoria and NSW, Australia
Decadence – 10 years of 200 Gertrude Street, 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne
Adelaide Festival, The Living Arts Centre, Adelaide
New Work, Reconnaissance Gallery, Melbourne
Reconnaissance, Launceston Community Arts Centre, Launceston
1988 New Work, Reconnaissance Gallery, Melbourne
1987 New Work, Reconnaissance Gallery, Melbourne
Young Australians, National Gallery of Victoria; traveled to State and Regional galleries in Australia and the USA
The Golden Shibboleth, 200 Gertrude Street, Melbourne
1985 Acquisitions for the Michell Collection, Melbourne University Gallery, Melbourne
The McCaughey Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
1983 The New Art: works from the Michell Endowment, Banyul, National Gallery of Victoria annex, Melbourne
1979 Still life still lives, Visual Arts Board traveling exhibition, The Art Gallery of Ballarat and regional galleries traveling exhibition in Victoria and NSW, Australia
Michell Endowment, inaugural exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Some Recent Art of the Ballarat Region, The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat
REPRESENTATION IN PERMANENT PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne
Works included in the Shell Collection, the Michelle Endowment Collection and the Prints and Drawing Collection
The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat
Works included in the Painting Collection and the Prints and Drawing Collection
Wollongong City Gallery, Wollongong
Auckland Art Gallery / Toi O Tamaki, Auckland
Victoria University, Melbourne
Geelong Art Gallery, Geelong
Art Bank, Sydney
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Powles, J., The Poor Hospital, NKN Gallery, Melbourne. 2015
Accompanying poem Heel by Paul Carter, 2015
Cox, S., The Waiting Places, Catalogue essay accompanying the exhibition Staring back at the world, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney. 2013
Powles, J., An order of sorts, Online essay accompanying the exhibition Dieback. 2010
Song, K. and Qui, M., Distinction, Shanghai University Academy of Fine Arts. 2010
McAuliffe, C., The Shilo Project, The Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne. 2009. ISBN: 978-0-7340-4146-3
Wallace, G., Eye to "I" - the self in recent art, The Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat. 2007
Zahra, L., Rhapsody 21C, ch. (essay) Artist Curator Academic, University of Tasmania Press. 2005
Lindsay, R., The Shell Collection of Contemporary Australian Art, Shell Company of Australia Ltd. 1995
Lindsay, R., ICI Contemporary Exhibition, ICI Australia Ltd, 1989
Lindsay, R., Young Australians, Budget Transport Collection. 1987
Lindsay, R., The Golden Shibboleth, Gertrude Contemporary. 1987
Radford, R., Still Life Still Lives, The Art Gallery of Ballarat.1979
Radford, R., Some Recent Art of the Ballarat Region, The Art Gallery of Ballarat.1979
PETER WESTWOOD PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES: CURATOR & WRITER
2015 The personal thing,
Catalogue essay accompanying the work of Melinda Harper, Julia Powles and Nyah Cornish, NKN Gallery, Melbourne
2014 Future Strategies: The New Art Alumni
Curatorial project and catalogue essay. Project Space and Spare Room Gallery, RMIT University
2013 Crowded out
An essay accompanying the work of Matthew Berka for the project My House is too Small, curated by Julia Powles.
The struggle is enough …
Essay accompanying the work of Ryan Wilson for the exhibition project Your father’s brother Robert, Kings Artist Run Initiative, Melbourne.
Not too close, not too far
Catalogue essay discussing the work of Lim Dong Seung (Korea), for the exhibition On Familiar Things, Lee C Gallery, Seoul.
2011 Hivemind
Catalogue essay discussing the work of Raphael Buttonshaw, Tyler Clark, Dylan Hammond, Daniel Stojkovich. The School of Art Gallery, RMIT University.
(http://schoolofartgalleries.dsc.rmit.edu.au/SOAG/exhibitions/2010/index.html)
2010 The Proposition
Catalogue essay discussing the work of Boe-lin Bastian, CJ Conway, Ed McAleice and Sean Crossley, The School of Art Gallery, RMIT University.
(http://schoolofartgalleries.dsc.rmit.edu.au/SOAG/exhibitions/2010/index.html)
Can this be a painting?
Catalogue essay (writing collaboration with Julia Powles) discussing the work of Michael Jäger (Germany), Project Space and Spare Room Gallery, RMIT University (http://www.projectspace.rmit.edu.au/)
Desire and what you end up doing. Bringing fiction into reality: Who are you talking to, me?
Catalogue essay discussing the work of Barbara Kapusta (Austria), Project Space and Spare Room Gallery, RMIT University (http://www.projectspace.rmit.edu.au/)
The moment where you think that that’s all it takes …
Catalogue essay discussing the work of Julia Powles for the exhibition Dancing Without Lessons, BLINDSIDE, Melbourne (www.blindside.org.au/)
Representation in the meaning of a metaphor for a forest as endoscopy / links between locations
Curatorial project, installation and catalogue text involving the work of Hoang Duong Cam (Vietnam). Project Space and Spare Room Gallery, RMIT University (http://www.projectspace.rmit.edu.au/)
Like No Place Known
Collaborative curatorial exhibition project and catalogue essay with Katarina Frank. Works by Kieran Boland (Australia), Cecilia Darle (Sweden), Gunilla Hansson (Sweden). Patrick Nilsson (Sweden), Jin Shan (PR China) Andreas Soma (Sweden). The School of Art Gallery, RMIT University.
Bus stop
Catalogue essay discussing the work of Michael Wegerer (Austria), Künstlerhaus Vienna, Austria
Catalogue title : Multiple Matters - Grafische Konzepte
Author: Wojcech Krywoblocki and Georg Lebzelter
Publisher: Künstlerhaus Vienna, 2010. ISBN 978-3-900926-85-4
2009 The city lost in snow
Catalogue essay discussing the work of Katarina Frank (Sweden/UK), Project Space and Spare Room Gallery, RMIT University (http://www.projectspace.rmit.edu.au/)
Man in the Cold
Catalogue essay discussing the work of Godwin Bradbeer for the exhibition Portraits in Exile, Ardel Gallery of Modern Art, Bangkok, Thailand
2008 Things that remain
Curatorial project, installation and catalogue text. Works by Steve Cox, Jess Crowe, Julia Powles, Greg Pryor and Leonie Zylberberg, Jenny Port Gallery, Melbourne
The World in Painting
Curatorial advisor and contributing writer to the catalogue essay discussing the work of Lê Quôc Viêt (Vietnam) for the exhibition project The World in Painting, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne. Curator Zara Stanhope.
2007 An obvious problem
Catalogue essay discussing the work of Jan Svenungsson (Sweden) and Katrin von Maltzahn (German) for the dual exhibition project A Place on Earth & Tracking and Jorge Luis Borges visited Melbourne for 10 days; School of Art Gallery. RMIT University (http://www.projectspace.rmit.edu.au/)
2006 The brain hand thing
Catalogue essay discussing the work of David Palliser for the exhibition Imagine…the creativity shaping our culture, Heide Museum of Modern Art. Curator Zara Stanhope. (http://www.davidpalliser.com/essay.html)
2005 One another’s otherworld
Curatorial project installation and catalogue text, at the invitation of the French Cultural Centre, Melbourne. Featuring the works of Laetitia Bourget (France), Philippe Charles (France), Steve Cox, Sanné Mestrom, Dominic Redfern, Philip Samartzis, Ania Walwicz and Louiseann Zahra. Alliance Française de Melbourne
Various Presence: the human spaces in new technology
Curatorial project, installation and catalogue text, Shanghai International Science and Art Exposition, China, 2005. Featuring the works of Mark Burry, Martine Corompt, Ho Sui Kee, Nicole Jaquard, Lyndall Jones, Dominic Redfern, Philip Samartzis, Daniel von Sturmer, Christian Bumbarra Thompson, Jason Wade, Yandell Walton
2004 Siblings
Two concurrent curatorial projects with accompanying catalogue text titled
Similarities and differences. Featuring the work of Loretta Quinn and Paul Quinn, Fiona Mc Monagle, and Tim McMonagle, Project Space and Spare Room Gallery, RMIT University
Beyond horizons / Horisonttien takana
Curatorial project, and catalogue essay referring to the work of environmental artist Markku Hakuri (Finland). Faculty Gallery, RMIT University, Melbourne
The Drawing Room
Curatorial project and catalogue essay, titled Insideout, accompanying an installation work by John Kelly. Project Space and Spare Room, RMIT University, Melbourne
2003 Benjamin Armstrong and Katherine Huang
Curatorial project and exhibition text (text drawing / poster). Works by Benjamin Armstrong and Katherine Huang. Project Space and Spare Room, RMIT University, 2003
2002 Crossing: New Art from Australia
Curatorial project with catalogue essay. Works by Adam Bunny, Linda Erceg, Fiona Foley, Peter Graham, Katherine Huang, Dianne Jones, Tim McMonagle, Vera Möller, David Noonan and Simon Trevaks, and Christian Bumbarra Thompson. Lume Gallery, UIAH (University of Art and Design), Helsinki, Finland
David Potter
Curatorial project (posthumous exhibition) and catalogue essay, Project Space and Spare Room, RMIT University
2001 Berenice’s Hair /Bereniken Hiukset
Exhibition catalogue with curator Leena Lohiniva. Rovaniemi Museum, Finland and Project Space and Spare Room, RMIT University, Melbourne
2000 Seen something more
Curatorial project and catalogue essay.
Works by Tim McMonagle and David Palliser. Project Space and Spare Room, RMIT University, Melbourne
1999 rubik 10 – are you experienced
Catalogue essay discussing the work of Tim McMonagle. The Physics Room, Christchurch New Zealand pp.16
The trouble with Harry
Curatorial project and catalogue essay. Works by Judith Duquemin, Diena Georgetti and Daniel Noonan. Project Space and Spare Room, RMIT University, Melbourne