Peter Westwood

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	<title>Peter Westwood</title>
	<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com</link>
	<description>Peter Westwood</description>
	<pubDate>Sun, 01 Sep 2024 04:55:31 +0000</pubDate>
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		<title>The new way to live</title>
				
		<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com/The-new-way-to-live</link>

		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Sep 2024 04:55:31 +0000</pubDate>

		<dc:creator>Peter Westwood</dc:creator>

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		<description>The new way to live, 2024Blockprojects Gallery, Narrm/Melbourne, Australia.


&#60;img width="2160" height="1820" width_o="2160" height_o="1820" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/03e4118e9703b5e5b353cd4594546665f58fedf579f3ebdd7348d384aeb15d88/Spooky-action_2023_Web_Res.jpg" data-mid="217259492" border="0" data-scale="50" alt="Spooky action, 2023. Oil on linen, 160 x 190cm." data-caption="Spooky action, 2023. Oil on linen, 160 x 190cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/03e4118e9703b5e5b353cd4594546665f58fedf579f3ebdd7348d384aeb15d88/Spooky-action_2023_Web_Res.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="951" height="1049" width_o="951" height_o="1049" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d90ae550a7139151c4a4ffc14d18fbd3e8b5273a3e7e78276dc299defa47415d/Westwood_Peter_You-can-get-stuck--but-with-too-much-change-you-can-go-chaotic.jpg" data-mid="217259484" border="0" alt="You can get stuck,&#38;amp;nbsp;but with too much change you go chaotic, 2021. Oil on linen, 138 x 125cm." data-caption="You can get stuck,&#38;amp;nbsp;but with too much change you go chaotic, 2021. Oil on linen, 138 x 125cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/951/i/d90ae550a7139151c4a4ffc14d18fbd3e8b5273a3e7e78276dc299defa47415d/Westwood_Peter_You-can-get-stuck--but-with-too-much-change-you-can-go-chaotic.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1628" height="2160" width_o="1628" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3d7540594ab10256c9e83c33ced66f225575b4b4de1f6337611d46c960ed6cd2/The-Show-of-Delights_2023_Web_Res.jpg" data-mid="217259486" border="0" alt="The Show of Delights, 2023,&#38;amp;nbsp;Oil on linen, 166 x 126cm." data-caption="The Show of Delights, 2023,&#38;amp;nbsp;Oil on linen, 166 x 126cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3d7540594ab10256c9e83c33ced66f225575b4b4de1f6337611d46c960ed6cd2/The-Show-of-Delights_2023_Web_Res.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2160" height="1623" width_o="2160" height_o="1623" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/74b015a5b6a45d315d061daedbcc8a5f664eff0ba0598ee0b55f50444662052a/Falling-off-the-floor_2024.jpg" data-mid="217259493" border="0" alt="Falling off the floor, 2024. Oil on linen,&#38;amp;nbsp;135 x 180cm." data-caption="Falling off the floor, 2024. Oil on linen,&#38;amp;nbsp;135 x 180cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/74b015a5b6a45d315d061daedbcc8a5f664eff0ba0598ee0b55f50444662052a/Falling-off-the-floor_2024.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2034" height="2160" width_o="2034" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/09fe526b834dfe887fe146fa39078ad29150d13e3869b1a5227aac10ba4de2c0/Things-were-invented_2023_Web_Res.jpg" data-mid="217259485" border="0" alt="Things were Invented but this is a Faithful and true account of everything That Happened, 2023.&#38;amp;nbsp;Oil on linen,&#38;amp;nbsp;150 x 141cm." data-caption="Things were Invented but this is a Faithful and true account of everything That Happened, 2023.&#38;amp;nbsp;Oil on linen,&#38;amp;nbsp;150 x 141cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/09fe526b834dfe887fe146fa39078ad29150d13e3869b1a5227aac10ba4de2c0/Things-were-invented_2023_Web_Res.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1920" height="2160" width_o="1920" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2f603377481b036ddf47afb171925c3b7224035b0db2a91f73228f1f0d4ca0b3/Double-act_2024_Web_Res.jpg" data-mid="217259494" border="0" alt="Double act, 2024. Oil on linen, 71 x 62cm." data-caption="Double act, 2024. Oil on linen, 71 x 62cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2f603377481b036ddf47afb171925c3b7224035b0db2a91f73228f1f0d4ca0b3/Double-act_2024_Web_Res.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1595" height="2160" width_o="1595" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3a5346e5cd3aabf1c514cb69ed1ebe8cba6f182647910fc0b33003ab3a888ff5/A-peculiar-household_2024_Web_Res.jpg" data-mid="217259496" border="0" alt="A peculiar household, 2024. Oil on linen, 61 x 45cm" data-caption="A peculiar household, 2024. Oil on linen, 61 x 45cm" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3a5346e5cd3aabf1c514cb69ed1ebe8cba6f182647910fc0b33003ab3a888ff5/A-peculiar-household_2024_Web_Res.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1471" height="2160" width_o="1471" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9ef926ecdceba91ca3b07640f32ff2aaf05fec1be83066a6180bcfa8673596c9/A-further-incident_2024_HighRes.jpg" data-mid="217259497" border="0" alt="A further incident, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp;Oil on linen,&#38;amp;nbsp;82 x 56cm" data-caption="A further incident, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp;Oil on linen,&#38;amp;nbsp;82 x 56cm" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9ef926ecdceba91ca3b07640f32ff2aaf05fec1be83066a6180bcfa8673596c9/A-further-incident_2024_HighRes.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1563" height="2160" width_o="1563" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c4750c9bda17de5de34a6ce55c048f6820681d69c7201e93dfd9381a9f4a1867/And-a-second-mishap_2024_HighRes.jpg" data-mid="217259495" border="0" alt="And a second mishap, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp;Oil on linen,&#38;amp;nbsp;78 x 56.5cm" data-caption="And a second mishap, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp;Oil on linen,&#38;amp;nbsp;78 x 56.5cm" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c4750c9bda17de5de34a6ce55c048f6820681d69c7201e93dfd9381a9f4a1867/And-a-second-mishap_2024_HighRes.jpg" /&#62;


&#60;img width="3307" height="2205" width_o="3307" height_o="2205" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/26cd8dee47086590dd83cc9a4e81815e38406da05dd70682092bd3f1cc36fb50/The-new-way-to-live-install-1.jpg" data-mid="217259491" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/26cd8dee47086590dd83cc9a4e81815e38406da05dd70682092bd3f1cc36fb50/The-new-way-to-live-install-1.jpg" /&#62;fig 1.&#38;nbsp; Installation view main gallery
&#60;img width="3307" height="2205" width_o="3307" height_o="2205" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7a71da31349bd2eb98d6e710cce480af35ad29f7d667be94241b9654d7005928/The-new-way-to-live-install-2.jpg" data-mid="217259490" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7a71da31349bd2eb98d6e710cce480af35ad29f7d667be94241b9654d7005928/The-new-way-to-live-install-2.jpg" /&#62;
fig 2. Installation view

&#60;img width="3307" height="2205" width_o="3307" height_o="2205" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a47cda624bd2b48bc12cb56960bc4afd1baf4eb58f778aeda7ac4d241167d0f3/The-new-way-to-live-install-3.jpg" data-mid="217259489" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a47cda624bd2b48bc12cb56960bc4afd1baf4eb58f778aeda7ac4d241167d0f3/The-new-way-to-live-install-3.jpg" /&#62;fig 3. Installation view
&#60;img width="3307" height="2205" width_o="3307" height_o="2205" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3f5b4bc0dcdf9b423fce86801ac7b58e4a05107c75c4e3325204704ac03240d0/The-new-way-to-live-install-4.jpg" data-mid="217259488" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3f5b4bc0dcdf9b423fce86801ac7b58e4a05107c75c4e3325204704ac03240d0/The-new-way-to-live-install-4.jpg" /&#62;
fig 4. Installation view

&#60;img width="3307" height="2205" width_o="3307" height_o="2205" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a1d6ddd0d17fb4f07023c618ccdce39fb1f69b050e9a07ffc882fd988f41cf33/The-new-way-to-live-install-5.jpg" data-mid="217259487" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a1d6ddd0d17fb4f07023c618ccdce39fb1f69b050e9a07ffc882fd988f41cf33/The-new-way-to-live-install-5.jpg" /&#62;fig 5. Installation view


In the title of The new way to live we find a clue, suggesting that an alteration or schism in the way we approach the world has occurred. The old ways have receded, a fresh way to live is required, but how do we recognise it? How do we grasp its form? In an era of uncertainty – a heating planet, wars, economic displacement, rising global intolerances – in a world we increasingly experience as fleeting and fragmentary, Westwood proposes a survival strategy of radical momentariness, where each fragment, each encounter can be experienced as a totalising instance. Something inexplicable glistens on a flat blue background, two miniature arched rainbows hover in tandem, a nighttime garden has plants with branches and roots that cross over each other with lines sharp as knives, abstract patterns tumble down from ceilings and shapes we feel we should be able to recognise recede into multi-coloured backgrounds.


The new way to live puts forward the idea that to be in the contemporary world is to experience life as an accumulation of fragmentary moments, both ubiquitous and peculiar. Rather than seeking a structure within this tumult we could, Westwood’s painting suggests, accept the chaotic moments as a sequence of equivalences where what matters is not a rationale, but an immersion.&#38;nbsp;


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		<title>What we feel and what we know</title>
				
		<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com/What-we-feel-and-what-we-know</link>

		<pubDate>Sun, 25 Aug 2024 07:00:22 +0000</pubDate>

		<dc:creator>Peter Westwood</dc:creator>

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What we feel and what we know, 2024&#38;nbsp;Verein für Originalradierung München e.V., Germany. 
 

&#60;img width="2160" height="1475" width_o="2160" height_o="1475" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/26b20f0d3e90fea29f3dd59a4df9aeee35aebe72f006b2187d1b5903111d42db/Hit---Miss.jpg" data-mid="216900010" border="0" alt="Hit + Miss, 2024. Screenprint, diptych; composition 67.7 x 54.7 cm, left sheet 67.7 cm x 46.5 cm, right sheet 67.7 cm x 50.7 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" data-caption="Hit + Miss, 2024. Screenprint, diptych; composition 67.7 x 54.7 cm, left sheet 67.7 cm x 46.5 cm, right sheet 67.7 cm x 50.7 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/26b20f0d3e90fea29f3dd59a4df9aeee35aebe72f006b2187d1b5903111d42db/Hit---Miss.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1620" height="2160" width_o="1620" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/31db24579c8bf8c7184ed7a008876479a69fb62c447e84ad19a6a8546946c291/No-sign-of-anything-stopping.jpg" data-mid="216900041" border="0" data-scale="50" alt="No sign of anything stopping, 2024.  Screenprint; composition and sheet 63 cm x 50.5 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" data-caption="No sign of anything stopping, 2024.  Screenprint; composition and sheet 63 cm x 50.5 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/31db24579c8bf8c7184ed7a008876479a69fb62c447e84ad19a6a8546946c291/No-sign-of-anything-stopping.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1620" height="2160" width_o="1620" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/57cae7e0a22e4bde963a2c8c9166500ecadaa795a4014daf9abb829c144d45f7/What-happens-when-we-dont-hold-on-to-something.jpg" data-mid="216900043" border="0" alt="What happens when we don&#38;rsquo;t hold on to something, 2024.  Screenprint; composition and sheet 67 cm x 51.5 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" data-caption="What happens when we don’t hold on to something, 2024.  Screenprint; composition and sheet 67 cm x 51.5 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/57cae7e0a22e4bde963a2c8c9166500ecadaa795a4014daf9abb829c144d45f7/What-happens-when-we-dont-hold-on-to-something.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1620" height="2160" width_o="1620" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb66ac8e29d8b4cb0b0aab37ebfc4b5ac2bca0ca050870577f9c9f947694d9b4/The-undoing-of-an-action.jpg" data-mid="216900042" border="0" data-scale="37" alt="The undoing of an action, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp; Screenprint; composition and sheet 59.5 cm x 52 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" data-caption="The undoing of an action, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp; Screenprint; composition and sheet 59.5 cm x 52 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb66ac8e29d8b4cb0b0aab37ebfc4b5ac2bca0ca050870577f9c9f947694d9b4/The-undoing-of-an-action.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2160" height="1620" width_o="2160" height_o="1620" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/370a975b23ef0262dc4ac63f73b511d7754ae853e14d6239900d82ae678bb88d/Agent-Object-Subject.jpg" data-mid="216900007" border="0" alt="Agent Object Subject, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp; Screenprint; composition and sheet 50.5 cm x 67.5 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" data-caption="Agent Object Subject, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp; Screenprint; composition and sheet 50.5 cm x 67.5 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/370a975b23ef0262dc4ac63f73b511d7754ae853e14d6239900d82ae678bb88d/Agent-Object-Subject.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1620" height="2160" width_o="1620" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ce783e0298ccb2e1a6372b20b1b995a6b8a13bf72d27994a6ce97463b2cae2bd/No-one-wanted-to-let-the-precious-liquid-out.jpg" data-mid="216900040" border="0" alt="No one wanted to let the precious liquid out, so they stored it carefully and held on to it tightly, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp; Screenprint; composition and sheet 67 cm x 51 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" data-caption="No one wanted to let the precious liquid out, so they stored it carefully and held on to it tightly, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp; Screenprint; composition and sheet 67 cm x 51 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ce783e0298ccb2e1a6372b20b1b995a6b8a13bf72d27994a6ce97463b2cae2bd/No-one-wanted-to-let-the-precious-liquid-out.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2160" height="1620" width_o="2160" height_o="1620" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8f6134ad45d8fb47b4b8b4c21a7ffb632b202eaa2f52fc8f91e295a7578853d0/Aftermath.jpg" data-mid="216900066" border="0" alt="Aftermath, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp; Screenprint; composition and sheet 53.75 cm x 66 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" data-caption="Aftermath, 2024.&#38;amp;nbsp; Screenprint; composition and sheet 53.75 cm x 66 cm. Acrylic ink on BFK Rives White 280gsm&#38;amp;nbsp;" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8f6134ad45d8fb47b4b8b4c21a7ffb632b202eaa2f52fc8f91e295a7578853d0/Aftermath.jpg" /&#62;


&#60;img width="1102" height="699" width_o="1102" height_o="699" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/781590d4054bcd1bf301f1eaad1557f0366026fa28f08d04e3b6f78d20b77d5e/Install_web.jpg" data-mid="216900080" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/781590d4054bcd1bf301f1eaad1557f0366026fa28f08d04e3b6f78d20b77d5e/Install_web.jpg" /&#62;

fig 1.&#38;nbsp; Installation view main gallery
&#60;img width="1070" height="677" width_o="1070" height_o="677" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9ebe3a07ccd8f20c3feb5c109a0ad4037b92212afc6bea3ceba1e738073f82ea/Install-2_web.jpg" data-mid="216900082" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9ebe3a07ccd8f20c3feb5c109a0ad4037b92212afc6bea3ceba1e738073f82ea/Install-2_web.jpg" /&#62;
fig 2. Installation view
&#60;img width="1154" height="759" width_o="1154" height_o="759" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/aa8de7728220f879ef9da0ccf84cca691bcb687507545ebe406ca9483ed772bd/Install-3_web.jpg" data-mid="216900085" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/aa8de7728220f879ef9da0ccf84cca691bcb687507545ebe406ca9483ed772bd/Install-3_web.jpg" /&#62;
fig 3. Installation view
&#60;img width="1185" height="778" width_o="1185" height_o="778" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6be5ee9255334e4e98b23c5c3c4b0e6aba044fa795899f9675ec2b8c24cec052/Install-4_web_.jpg" data-mid="216900086" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6be5ee9255334e4e98b23c5c3c4b0e6aba044fa795899f9675ec2b8c24cec052/Install-4_web_.jpg" /&#62;fig 4. Installation view
&#60;img width="1200" height="800" width_o="1200" height_o="800" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e75b208b407a47da223be3e858cee5a99ddefb4f2966ad80d2cdce11a84f3328/Install-5_web_.jpg" data-mid="216900090" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e75b208b407a47da223be3e858cee5a99ddefb4f2966ad80d2cdce11a84f3328/Install-5_web_.jpg" /&#62;fig 5. Installation view


A two-person exhibition with works by Julia Powles and Peter Westwood. This exhibition was also accompanied by a satellite project at Boutwell Schabrowsky Gallery, Munich, Germany. 

Julia Powles and Peter Westwood are interested in how knowledge is formed. For both artists knowledge, or understanding, is something that must necessarily remain only partially articulated - semi-spoken words and ambiguous motifs are offered up for others to interpret and complete. These artists would suggest that knowingness arises within our bodies through experience and sensation as much as it is grasped within our minds.


While we can draw visual connections between the use of imagery and text in both Powles and Westwood’s works, less obvious is the way that they both mine their childhoods and unconscious selves for subject matter. The types of knowledge and understanding formed via our childhood experiences is uniquely felt and often profound in one’s life, as it comes from a time when our encounters are both bodily and psychologically felt, yet unexamined. 


Language is an imprecise tool, and how well we can ever communicate our thoughts and ideas to others is uncertain. Devising text as tapestries, Powles formed sentences that are personal, having surfaced from specific events in her life – but while her sentences are particular, they correspondingly suggest the universalism of a homily like` ‘home sweet home’. Made from thread that is left over from other people’s projects, Powles never plans these works; the ordering of the words and final sentence arises while she is making them, allowing the very slowness of the process to help form her thoughts into words. Similarity her large-scale textile works have the appearance of formal abstraction yet are in fact derived from Venn diagrams of her complex family structure, again surfacing through conscious and unconscious awareness’s.


Westwood’s images initially flow from the external world, haphazardly appearing from everyday life. The photographic ‘encounters’ that inform his work reflect the kind of ordinariness that is easily overlooked in our lives, but that can surface through associations, feelings, and awareness’s within us. For Westwood, photographs represent fragments that comprise our lives, that can be seen as something recognisable that might equally be sensed as something unfamiliar. Westwood has a certain awareness that ordinary moments can somehow feel intense – that water travelling at speed down a sink may be as visceral an experience within one’s body, as it is also simply prosaic. Text and language are likewise ‘felt’ experiences that can shift instantaneously in our minds from the routine to the peculiar.


Westwood’s screen-prints utilise overlayered colours and textures in such a manner that only a trace of the original subject remains, what we are left with is something we feel we ought to recognise, something we feel we would know if only we could grasp just a little bit more. 


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		<title>Caught by surprise</title>
				
		<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com/Caught-by-surprise</link>

		<pubDate>Sun, 25 Sep 2022 06:14:58 +0000</pubDate>

		<dc:creator>Peter Westwood</dc:creator>

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Caught by surprise, 2022 A survey of recent work at Galerie der HBK, Braunschweig Braunschweig University of Art, Germany


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fig 1.&#38;nbsp; Installation view main gallery
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fig 2. Installation view
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&#60;img width="1440" height="1081" width_o="1440" height_o="1081" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/61b52bf2bfcc5acde35d5416231bfadd58692bad145ce30d4d8d652da4b449fe/1-Entrance_-Caught-by-surprise-publicity_HBK-Galerie.JPG" data-mid="153994672" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/61b52bf2bfcc5acde35d5416231bfadd58692bad145ce30d4d8d652da4b449fe/1-Entrance_-Caught-by-surprise-publicity_HBK-Galerie.JPG" /&#62;fig 4. Window text

All of this is true, most of it happened. Some thoughts on Peter Westwood’s Caught by Surprise. 

When we first met to discuss his exhibition at Braunschweig University of Art, Peter Westwood suggested that if he was to succinctly describe the body of work he would display, he would say it existed on ‘an undulating plane of re-formation’.1 As we talked, this premise (and its multiple connotations) seemed at once precarious and liberating. There was no sense that art, and specifically painting, functioned for him as a vehicle for critique or as an agent of change, but rather that it was a means to apprehend the feeling of where we are and of the world we are in, and what the experience of our times, with all its complexity and unpredictability, might look like.&#38;nbsp; 
This mode of expression is a long way from Westwood’s beginning as an artist. It may surprise newcomers to his work to learn that he left art school in the 1970s as a photorealist: that most exacting and, some would say, dispassionate category of image-makers—beguilingly precise and intimidatingly conscious, yet in some ways at arm’s length from real life. His work epitomised the style and met with rapid commercial and institutional success, but Westwood’s personal investment was short-lived. Two years later he ‘went hunting’ for an alternative, a form of expression that leaned into the experiential, bodily and psychological, and he has explored this generative ground ever since. ‘My practice shifted until it was closer to me’, he observed. 
This is not to suggest that Westwood’s painting operates in a purely instinctual way; on the contrary, his practice is underpinned by a continual, curious investigation of the human condition and as such contemporaneity and its agents—the social and political realms—are pervasive. And while his works don’t explicitly picture issues and events of our times, they are overwhelmingly responsive to and conditioned by them.&#38;nbsp; 
Take No change, much the same, 2017, for instance. The image has two distinct zones, one fugitive and indeterminate, and the other with the appearance of a boardwalk beginning outside the picture’s boundaries and leading to an unseen destination. The small horizontal stripes of the built structure are unexpectedly overlaid with large stripes of red, white and blue that are typical of a national flag, bringing with them the various revolutionary and ambivalent political associations of the tricolour. The impression is one of ongoingness yet uncertainty, of a transition that is inadequate or incomplete. In Field of sorrow (untethered), 2021, the familiar and unfamiliar are similarly seen to be co-existing, with the central motif of a European thistle growing in a visceral, blood-red soil that supports a host of unidentifiable other vegetation. The composition is overlaid with a sequence of blue threads, suggestive of another, unknown dimension while signalling contradictory notions of confinement or of unravelling. 
A further work, I mixed up the idea of space between humans and objects, 2020, features a gridded object that began as an image of a museum trolley. Now immobile and sunk to the bottom of the picture plane, it takes on a perplexing spatial ambiguity, the curves and lines of the form rendered flatly and pushing and pulling between fore- and mid-ground. The caption at the top of the painting re-calibrates the image as a kind of illustration or reportage. ‘Without the text it would be personal, not socio-political’, Westwood observes. 
Stylistically there is little that visually binds these works together, or that even suggests they are by the same artist. Instead, it becomes apparent that in his intuitive and practice-led approach Westwood is open to precognitive awareness, and his process is one of shifting thoughts and feelings from the inner self to the exterior world.2 Implicit is the possibility, as Julia Powles has proposed, ‘that paint can give form to an alternative type of knowledge’.3 
Westwood usually begins a new painting by roughly sketching in an image from a photograph—a snapshot on his phone or something that has appealed for any subjective reason—to establish the foundational form. Then he stops working from the photo and feels his way forward, building in observations about the world and trusting the image to lead him. Westwood paints like a collagist, deploying remnants and piecing things together until they coalesce. Yet there is a prescient quality to his paintings, in that they each feel like a perception as much as being an action in the world. Around two-thirds of the way into the image-making words begin to form and a title arrives. He continues to work until the picture doesn’t need more accumulations, and stops when he looks around and feels that there isn’t more to do.  In concert with his description of an ‘undulating plane of re-formation’, Westwood sees painting as an unstable art form, and the act of painting as a mutable experience, so there is a corresponding sense that the real content of his images lies beyond the works themselves. This intellectual sensibility is derived both from personal tendencies and beliefs and his reading of contemporary philosophy and theories of art via James Elkins, Isabelle Graw, Boris Groys, David Joselit and Peter Osborne, to name a few. Like Graw, Westwood sees painting as an adjustable, adaptive medium eminently suited and attuned to change. More than a language, it ‘promotes vitalities, aliveness and power, through its very presence’.4The exhibition Caught by Surprise brings together examples of Peter Westwood’s work from the past five years. After some time in the planning its delivery has been subject to rescheduling and unpredictability due to the pandemic, an apt corollary to the nature of the project itself. Its seductive title attends to sensation and to a moment in time and has applications for both maker and viewer. ‘I’m surprised by the feelings in the paintings’, he told me in the studio as we looked at the canvases, as if the works had taken on their own independent lives and the reactions and emotions within them were no longer his. 
The audience experience of the exhibition is a testing, active one, for although it represents the work of one artist it has the look of a group show with its diverse imagery, inconstant palette, and uneasy truce between figuration and abstraction. The works are unmistakeably alive to perception and the world of appearances, yet there is a palpable idea of disruption both within the paintings and between them. Meaning and associations form, shift, and even collapse in individual works as well as across them, requiring adjustment for the eye and mind as patterns of appearance, style and subject matter are difficult to locate. To further amplify the exhibition’s heterogeneity, Westwood has placed a blank wall within the gallery. The device creates a physical tension by interrupting sightlines and regulating circulation, simulating his use of conscious and unconscious strategies within the paintings themselves. 
While the exhibition may be read as a metaphor for the variability of contemporaneity, so too does it function as a space or atmosphere that has its own currency, in the temporal meaning of the word. Caught by Surprise has a start and end so that in planning it exists in the future, in occupancy it is in the present, and in closure it is in the past. This may seem like an obvious thing to point out, but for Westwood the concept of ‘coming into being’ pertains equally to the exhibition and its constituent parts. Each represents a creative action or practice that is internal unto itself until its products are released into the social world, at which point they become speculative, in a way—subject to who sees them, and when. Changeability and inconclusiveness are inherent to both, and the possibilities offered are further perceived or devised by the viewer. In Westwood’s words, ‘this uncertainty ultimately provides an experience of what I consider reflects and embodies the indeterminate temper of our times’.5 The works in the exhibition, then, are presented as both independent of what came before and after, and at the same time as an ambiguous whole.6 
The incertitude and instability of living in the climate-affected, pandemic and war-ridden late-capitalist world is inescapable, and in so far as all painting is part of a socio-political continuum, Westwood’s inevitably yields to the outside realm. Yet he also sees our ever-changing present as a place of productive renewal and creative possibility, and his overarching project and preoccupation continues to be to try and harness the potential of painting as a sensory and ‘pre-purposeful’ indicator of our times. 
 Lesley Harding Artistic Director, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne June 2022All quotes by the artist are from conversations with the author on 22 October 2021 at RMIT University, Melbourne, and 6 May 2022 at the artist’s studio, North Melbourne.&#38;nbsp;Peter Westwood, ‘Painting as a marker of change’, PhD thesis, School of Art, College of Design and Social Context, RMIT University, July 2021, p. 9.Julia Powles, ‘The poor hospital (passage and fate)’, Blockprojects Gallery, Melbourne, 2015.Ibid., p. 10.&#38;nbsp;Ibid., p. 59.&#38;nbsp;A coda to the exhibition of paintings is Westwood’s production in Braunschweig of several inscribed T-shirts, presented in a stack, that are available for visitors to take away. The idea serves as a metaphor for the exhibition itself: the constituent parts of the set will live on in the world in a fragmented way—worn and stored, seen and unseen over time, never to come together again. 


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		<title>What is the Story for Tomorrow?</title>
				
		<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com/What-is-the-Story-for-Tomorrow</link>

		<pubDate>Mon, 07 Oct 2019 09:01:52 +0000</pubDate>

		<dc:creator>Peter Westwood</dc:creator>

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What is the Story for Tomorrow? 2019Susan Boutwell Gallery, Munich, Germany


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&#60;img width="1519" height="2101" width_o="1519" height_o="2101" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/85d0f24fc8ceb80be1e19a2601a2b97ec60d76bcfc809a2ef92cb146cdcb4daa/4_No-change--much-the-same_2017_Westwood-copy.jpg" data-mid="52228599" border="0" alt="No Change, much the same, 2017, oil on linen, 140cm x 101.5cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="No Change, much the same, 2017, oil on linen, 140cm x 101.5cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/85d0f24fc8ceb80be1e19a2601a2b97ec60d76bcfc809a2ef92cb146cdcb4daa/4_No-change--much-the-same_2017_Westwood-copy.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="1861" width_o="2100" height_o="1861" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a500656b23fcfccf066e26e2f684a2d067a3d519354b00a25648182ee863f2d3/5_Our-father_s-effect_2015_Westwood_-copy.jpg" data-mid="52228600" border="0" alt="Our father&#38;rsquo;s effect, 2015, oil on linen, 86.5cm x 96.5cm. Photographer: Simon Strong" data-caption="Our father’s effect, 2015, oil on linen, 86.5cm x 96.5cm. Photographer: Simon Strong" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a500656b23fcfccf066e26e2f684a2d067a3d519354b00a25648182ee863f2d3/5_Our-father_s-effect_2015_Westwood_-copy.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="1600" width_o="2100" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/32e36989b6f78b5ded014be543d173538bdefb9cae1bedb3d5fe611a6984f47e/6_Taxonomies_2019_Westwood-copy.jpg" data-mid="52228603" border="0" alt="Taxonomies, 2019, oil on linen, 97cm x 137.5cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="Taxonomies, 2019, oil on linen, 97cm x 137.5cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/32e36989b6f78b5ded014be543d173538bdefb9cae1bedb3d5fe611a6984f47e/6_Taxonomies_2019_Westwood-copy.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1809" height="1400" width_o="1809" height_o="1400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c522cf3334e2032808efc562530dd433f6ba2f2daa83e6fbeb296a46a12667e3/7_What-is-the-Story-for-Tomorrow__2019_Westwood-copy.jpg" data-mid="52228605" border="0" alt="What is the Story for Tomorrow?, 2019, oil on linen, 97cm x 137.5cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="What is the Story for Tomorrow?, 2019, oil on linen, 97cm x 137.5cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c522cf3334e2032808efc562530dd433f6ba2f2daa83e6fbeb296a46a12667e3/7_What-is-the-Story-for-Tomorrow__2019_Westwood-copy.jpg" /&#62;


Peter Westwood reconstructs aspects of the world in paint, forming ‘scenarios’ which are at once seemingly recognizable, yet elusive and ultimately unknowable.

 The paintings never fully settle into an easily-processed schema; suggested meanings form and collapse before our eyes as we are caught between the materiality of the paint and the familiar/unfamiliar nature of the subject matters. Objects and forms ‘stand in’ for other psychological states of being.&#38;nbsp; Meaning is therefore suggested, whilst simultaneously denied or subverted.

Sometimes the artwork title can give us a clue towards interpretation. Charlatan (2019) depicts a blue plant-like form against a pink background. Both colors are electric and also compelling. The straight forward nature of the painting’s composition is suggestive of a portrait or flash-lit ‘mug-shot,’ leaving the viewer with the suspicion that this humble plant has been exposed as a counterfeit. But perhaps it is us with our inability to decipher fact from fiction – in this age of fake news – and our fraudulent manipulations of science who are the true charlatans?

The pictorial spaces in the paintings are ambiguous. Sometimes, deep space is suggested behind the painted forms. Sometimes, shallow space compresses into pure abstraction, further mystifying the action. We can see this effect in the painting Fugitive Energies (2019), in which two erect lamps are turned towards the depths of the picture plane, transmitting some kind of inexplicable energy, which fizzes and hotly crackles, at once suggesting an ambiguous depth, whilst also marking the surface of the canvas in a series of abstract striations. An enigmatic, white rectangle marks a place of indeterminate significance at the lamps’ base, indicating that the meaning of the picture is possibly still to be written.

&#60;img width="2100" height="1400" width_o="2100" height_o="1400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9efe75b958f889443f365f8244242d33b261527cf1d6b778b2a925d0c931703a/Main-wall.jpg" data-mid="52226934" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9efe75b958f889443f365f8244242d33b261527cf1d6b778b2a925d0c931703a/Main-wall.jpg" /&#62;

fig 1.&#38;nbsp; Installation view main gallery&#60;img width="2100" height="1400" width_o="2100" height_o="1400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d97055d42e149fd0b1643e8b7c9b1885e55a966d7eda8fee7977817416d1979d/Doorway.jpg" data-mid="52227942" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d97055d42e149fd0b1643e8b7c9b1885e55a966d7eda8fee7977817416d1979d/Doorway.jpg" /&#62;

fig 2.&#38;nbsp;Installation view


	&#60;img width="2100" height="1400" width_o="2100" height_o="1400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ff215c7bc94915f1cdd7cfa447a3955a392ff01258d543bd348c1cb4bd98ffe8/Window-text.jpg" data-mid="52227945" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ff215c7bc94915f1cdd7cfa447a3955a392ff01258d543bd348c1cb4bd98ffe8/Window-text.jpg" /&#62;fig 3.&#38;nbsp;Window text

	In Accelerants (2019), a bowl-like tub sits in a room or enclosure. Its possibly metallic surface almost reflects the viewer in the gallery environment, in Manet-like slabs of paint. Lines or tubes enter (or emerge from) the tub, transferring, or delivering, what unknown material?
These are ‘representational’ paintings which call upon the unconscious for closure. They are energised with their inexplicable cargo; replete with an enigmatic burden. They seek to reflect on the times in which we live – and these times are riven with anxiety. Time races on apace, and all things are in constant flux. The desire for stability is a futile dream, but, within this anxious state, it is possible to record beauty. Westwood believes that at an unconscious level, attraction and anxiety always coexist. His paintings are an ideal coalescence of these two states.
Steve Cox and Julia Powles, 2019
Installation photographs, Jan Schünke. 


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	<item>
		<title>Afterall</title>
				
		<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com/Afterall</link>

		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Oct 2019 07:35:44 +0000</pubDate>

		<dc:creator>Peter Westwood</dc:creator>

		<guid isPermaLink="true">https://peterwestwoodartist.com/Afterall</guid>

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Afterall, 2017
    NKN Gallery, Melbourne, Australia


&#60;img width="2100" height="1498" width_o="2100" height_o="1498" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e3d523d22beb4f1e171f6305638973b762acc57b3745dc19eeb49e7bdc05a91e/1_Westwood_Lands-end-2017.jpg" data-mid="53380842" border="0" data-scale="63" alt="Land&#38;rsquo;s end, 2017, oil on linen, 97cm x 137.5cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Land’s end, 2017, oil on linen, 97cm x 137.5cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e3d523d22beb4f1e171f6305638973b762acc57b3745dc19eeb49e7bdc05a91e/1_Westwood_Lands-end-2017.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="2285" width_o="2100" height_o="2285" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/158fc4c8978c9797c85b90ac9b3cb1b8f6074901a5ab2762588fe30d3c2f4d46/2_Westwood_Light-bags-2016.jpg" data-mid="53380843" border="0" alt="Light bags, 2016, oil on linen, 122cm x 112cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Light bags, 2016, oil on linen, 122cm x 112cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/158fc4c8978c9797c85b90ac9b3cb1b8f6074901a5ab2762588fe30d3c2f4d46/2_Westwood_Light-bags-2016.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="1578" width_o="2100" height_o="1578" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f0684d989a4277a5b29c0d6a49dbee8d9feb1145e78ab7dff18900f7a4460ad1/3_Westwood_New-Order-2-2017.jpg" data-mid="53380844" border="0" alt="New Order (2), 2017, oil on linen, 88cm x 118.2cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="New Order (2), 2017, oil on linen, 88cm x 118.2cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f0684d989a4277a5b29c0d6a49dbee8d9feb1145e78ab7dff18900f7a4460ad1/3_Westwood_New-Order-2-2017.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="1570" width_o="2100" height_o="1570" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/59dd3df38179f175bd2e5350f20e658f69194695257e9146cffe46cdc381d0c0/4_Westwood_After-all-2017.jpg" data-mid="53380845" border="0" alt="After all, 2017,  oil on linen, 134.5cm x 180.5cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="After all, 2017,  oil on linen, 134.5cm x 180.5cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/59dd3df38179f175bd2e5350f20e658f69194695257e9146cffe46cdc381d0c0/4_Westwood_After-all-2017.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="957" height="1600" width_o="957" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c3843ef177461954f2640fbc2ee9b0ed7a5a16f3dbaf5c5adcbab1faef3c4058/5_Westwood_Caught-up-2017.jpg" data-mid="53380846" border="0" alt="Caught up, 2017, oil on linen, 153cm x 91.5cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Caught up, 2017, oil on linen, 153cm x 91.5cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/957/i/c3843ef177461954f2640fbc2ee9b0ed7a5a16f3dbaf5c5adcbab1faef3c4058/5_Westwood_Caught-up-2017.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1068" height="1600" width_o="1068" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ec6342eedbe71677a95332da9c8847eeae8a5ac031b3f646ac997373f8e2dae1/6_Westwood_Birdshead-World-2017.jpg" data-mid="53380847" border="0" alt="Birdshead World, 2017, oil and carbon pigment on linen, 140cm x 94cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Birdshead World, 2017, oil and carbon pigment on linen, 140cm x 94cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ec6342eedbe71677a95332da9c8847eeae8a5ac031b3f646ac997373f8e2dae1/6_Westwood_Birdshead-World-2017.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="1925" width_o="2100" height_o="1925" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9a5e780ddd545217554eb7dd951ced117b0bc2ccb04f31f2d9d60bd8a775b2f2/7_Westwood_The-Negative-2017.jpg" data-mid="53380848" border="0" alt="The Negative, 2017, oil on linen, 107.5cm x 118cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="The Negative, 2017, oil on linen, 107.5cm x 118cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9a5e780ddd545217554eb7dd951ced117b0bc2ccb04f31f2d9d60bd8a775b2f2/7_Westwood_The-Negative-2017.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1012" height="1400" width_o="1012" height_o="1400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b8c921e901456600b4ddbd3c34db9d78ccf6db604a0d4ea3b6abad7804899e95/8_Westwood_No-change-much-the-same-2017.jpg" data-mid="53380849" border="0" alt="No Change, much the same, 2017, oil on linen, 140cm x 101.5cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="No Change, much the same, 2017, oil on linen, 140cm x 101.5cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b8c921e901456600b4ddbd3c34db9d78ccf6db604a0d4ea3b6abad7804899e95/8_Westwood_No-change-much-the-same-2017.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="822" height="1125" width_o="822" height_o="1125" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/df6686ee907977fe4cb6dd4488128a9a37e6111fca217bf1533e624bbb64a66c/9_Corner-burn--2017.jpg" data-mid="53380850" border="0" alt="Corner burn, 2017, Photograph, 39.7cm x 29cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Corner burn, 2017, Photograph, 39.7cm x 29cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/822/i/df6686ee907977fe4cb6dd4488128a9a37e6111fca217bf1533e624bbb64a66c/9_Corner-burn--2017.jpg" /&#62;


Peter Westwood presents the world as we think we know it. But, like reality itself, the images are mysterious – simultaneously ‘formed’ yet unformed.

&#38;nbsp;Their painted spaces are ambiguous; their ‘facts’ are unreliable and mutable; their psychology erratic. Forms, once-recognised, are filtered through the ‘laws’ of abstraction so that imagery sometimes becomes non-imagery, half-imagined. Elsewhere, suggestive images emerge, barely formed, which become something else, even as we think we have located them. The paintings have a variety of possible readings and the images both ‘are’ and ‘are not’ - like the hypnogogic images we experience on the verge of dreaming, which endlessly change and switch as we regard them. 

In a sense, the paintings can be viewed as a kind of social document – but a social document which is not assertive. On one level, the subject matter is about society and our place within it. But these are no mere illustrative, figurative narratives. The ‘stories’ they tell are about how things play out, perpetually, in endless permutations. There are no solutions, only manifestations of events and situations. The paintings are also about the history of themselves and their making, in the artist’s studio. 

Westwood works from found images, but, apart from image-choice and selection, he does not plan the paintings before embarking on them. The paintings evolve through their making. They are allowed to grow and coalesce through chance placement and a kind of psychological, stream-of-consciousness process that allows suggestive connections to flourish between figuration and abstraction. 

The pictorial spaces in the paintings are also ambiguous - sometimes deep space is suggested around the forms, and sometimes shallower space flattens into abstraction. Westwood states: “The body of the painting is as important as the image. Everything is unstable. There is only a perpetual question.”&#38;nbsp; The foreground of the painting, New Order, shows the aftermath of some kind of a crash, now fragmented into an abstract arrangement of painterly swipes and dabs. People mill about in the background, also dissolving into gobbets of abstract painted marks. We ‘know’ the scene, but also don’t know. The ‘real’ moment has been transmuted into an imagined abstract invention whose ‘authenticity’ is as valid as a photograph.


&#60;img width="2100" height="2418" width_o="2100" height_o="2418" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3d2760f16b8cf8271ba4fa2d62bb1294bba3e7a29281a72efadb23adbde60293/Westwood_Afterall_install_image_4.jpg" data-mid="53154515" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3d2760f16b8cf8271ba4fa2d62bb1294bba3e7a29281a72efadb23adbde60293/Westwood_Afterall_install_image_4.jpg" /&#62;

fig 1.&#38;nbsp;Installation view&#60;img width="2100" height="1122" width_o="2100" height_o="1122" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0a3ae441bfe3ec759cb63f21b300a346fab9c5a293f56101736ab02c4427c0cd/Westwood_Afterall_install_view_1.jpg" data-mid="53154542" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0a3ae441bfe3ec759cb63f21b300a346fab9c5a293f56101736ab02c4427c0cd/Westwood_Afterall_install_view_1.jpg" /&#62;

fig 2.&#38;nbsp;Installation view


	&#60;img width="2100" height="1417" width_o="2100" height_o="1417" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c0fa3ec3e843c35880747d866714e59a7effdc5fc590f2d9b2c7dd01b8b39c3d/Westwood_Afterall_install_image_2.jpg" data-mid="53154550" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c0fa3ec3e843c35880747d866714e59a7effdc5fc590f2d9b2c7dd01b8b39c3d/Westwood_Afterall_install_image_2.jpg" /&#62;fig 3.&#38;nbsp;Installation view

	In an enigmatic night time painting, Bags of Light, glowing forms sit under what is possibly an overpass. The image triggers a host of potential ‘narratives’, all of which may be ‘true’, or potentially ‘false’. And in the work titled Birdshead World, an iconic figure, again ambiguous, is depicted, perhaps conveying a religious moral imperative, even though it is now faceless - an unknown&#38;nbsp; ‘other’ adjudicator. The bird head form beside the central figure suggests an atavistic or even pantheistism overview, which predates modern religious proscriptions. Equally, as with the other works, Caught Up also forms as a work of multiple perceptions, presenting a figure who seems to be shoring up some form of material tumbling from an open doorway – or perhaps the figure is dismantling the structure. Or perhaps the figure is being drawn to the various materials and forms, grappling with the multitude of possibilities. The suggested pictorial possibilities or multiplicities of these works are perpetual and unceasing, reinforcing ideas of living within increasingly uncanny and capricious times.
Steve Cox, 2019


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	<item>
		<title>The Poor Hospital</title>
				
		<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com/The-Poor-Hospital</link>

		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Nov 2019 21:14:29 +0000</pubDate>

		<dc:creator>Peter Westwood</dc:creator>

		<guid isPermaLink="true">https://peterwestwoodartist.com/The-Poor-Hospital</guid>

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The Poor Hospital (passage and fate) 2015Blockprojects Gallery, Melbourne, Australia


&#60;img width="3543" height="2214" width_o="3543" height_o="2214" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/25558160d019f74fcd0fa83acd97b246ed9eee0d40d63466fb52dba12b562767/1_Our-fathers-effect.jpg" data-mid="76502694" border="0" alt="Our fathers effect, 2015, 2 x panels. L: Ink jet print, 122cm x 102cm. R: Oil on linen; 86.5cm x 96.5cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="Our fathers effect, 2015, 2 x panels. L: Ink jet print, 122cm x 102cm. R: Oil on linen; 86.5cm x 96.5cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/25558160d019f74fcd0fa83acd97b246ed9eee0d40d63466fb52dba12b562767/1_Our-fathers-effect.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1113" height="2100" width_o="1113" height_o="2100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7de76503bab1203c37669a4aefc4101f8c9d71c8e4589abc0a42ae3f0831b01e/2_Passivity_after-an-episode-from-a-fight.jpg" data-mid="54748720" border="0" alt="Passivity; after &#38;lsquo;an episode from a fight&#38;rsquo;, 2015, oil on linen, 149cm x 79cm. 2016 Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize. Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="Passivity; after ‘an episode from a fight’, 2015, oil on linen, 149cm x 79cm. 2016 Bayside Acquisitive Art Prize. Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7de76503bab1203c37669a4aefc4101f8c9d71c8e4589abc0a42ae3f0831b01e/2_Passivity_after-an-episode-from-a-fight.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="1573" width_o="2100" height_o="1573" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/545e920f452fa3bffeb3c9db70a6c144b16234183159ef9328ef907f528577bc/3_The-inside.jpg" data-mid="54748724" border="0" alt="The inside, 2014, oil on linen, 92cm x 122cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="The inside, 2014, oil on linen, 92cm x 122cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/545e920f452fa3bffeb3c9db70a6c144b16234183159ef9328ef907f528577bc/3_The-inside.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="1745" width_o="2100" height_o="1745" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/52d46343f1407d4a90a8a1cd0bbbbaa529ecb2f03bcddf7ef84b638572fdff10/4_The-painting-the-photograph-the-whole-shebang.jpg" data-mid="54748730" border="0" alt="The painting, the photograph &#38;ndash; the whole shebang, 2015, oil on linen, 50.5cm x 60.5cm. Based on a photograph by Alex Salinas. Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="The painting, the photograph – the whole shebang, 2015, oil on linen, 50.5cm x 60.5cm. Based on a photograph by Alex Salinas. Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/52d46343f1407d4a90a8a1cd0bbbbaa529ecb2f03bcddf7ef84b638572fdff10/4_The-painting-the-photograph-the-whole-shebang.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="1480" width_o="2100" height_o="1480" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5e38292fcad96e0c5289ede6928b182cbfa49e6a3935b7ea4a75ff89723e5068/5_The-poor-hospital-2012.jpg" data-mid="54748735" border="0" alt="The poor hospital, 2012, oil on linen, 92cm x 128cm. RMIT University Collection. Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="The poor hospital, 2012, oil on linen, 92cm x 128cm. RMIT University Collection. Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5e38292fcad96e0c5289ede6928b182cbfa49e6a3935b7ea4a75ff89723e5068/5_The-poor-hospital-2012.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="1431" width_o="2100" height_o="1431" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/081b40630ed1816b6f6085ee660fd569d69900358860475ff53e3d78a4790ece/6_The-problems-of-repair.jpg" data-mid="54748741" border="0" alt="The problems of repair, 2015, 3 x panels. L: Oil on board, 60cm x 50cm. M: Oil on linen, 124cm x 144cm. R: Ink jet print, 98cm x 76cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="The problems of repair, 2015, 3 x panels. L: Oil on board, 60cm x 50cm. M: Oil on linen, 124cm x 144cm. R: Ink jet print, 98cm x 76cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/081b40630ed1816b6f6085ee660fd569d69900358860475ff53e3d78a4790ece/6_The-problems-of-repair.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="2261" width_o="2100" height_o="2261" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9746edc640d07e25140c8cbcc1bcf53ada1a65d878ccb90a3316221451f881ca/7_Maintaining-control.jpg" data-mid="54748742" border="0" alt="Maintaining control, 2014 (framed), oil on linen, 86cm x 80cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="Maintaining control, 2014 (framed), oil on linen, 86cm x 80cm. Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9746edc640d07e25140c8cbcc1bcf53ada1a65d878ccb90a3316221451f881ca/7_Maintaining-control.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2100" height="1204" width_o="2100" height_o="1204" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8f34097f4b0e2250495d2441e2cda54023b2ad0aab2c92e1da808f4f64c099b6/8_Reliquaries.jpg" data-mid="54749018" border="0" alt="Reliquaries, 2014, 2 x panels. L: Oil on linen, 183cm x 133cm. R: Ink jet print, 100cm x 66.5cm (framed and titled Indelible). Photographer: Simon Strong." data-caption="Reliquaries, 2014, 2 x panels. L: Oil on linen, 183cm x 133cm. R: Ink jet print, 100cm x 66.5cm (framed and titled Indelible). Photographer: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8f34097f4b0e2250495d2441e2cda54023b2ad0aab2c92e1da808f4f64c099b6/8_Reliquaries.jpg" /&#62;


Peter Westwood’s painting The poor hospital could be about pity, or our ability to feel for the plight of others. 

 The painting is an acrid yellow field with an overlay of floating pale blue structural forms and from a group of figures in the centre, someone stares straight at us. A nurse looking sideways has her gaze fixed firmly upon ours. Her intention however is not clear, for she may be seeking our assistance, revoking us for our role as ineffectual observers, or she may equally be standing defiant, rejecting any judgement. 

However we read this painting, in whatever way we interpret the word ‘poor’, we are complicit. The nurse’s gaze locks us into a silent dialogue, and we know that this is our hospital, that we have some- how permitted its impoverishment. 

Peter Westwood’s exhibition, The Poor Hospital (passage and fate), takes its name from the yellow painting with the nurse and examines the complex, networked and ambiguous nature of our personal and societal relationship to power. A key image in this exhibition is the two-part work Our fathers affect, one section of which is a photograph of a framed ‘paint-by-numbers’ picture made by Westwood’s father in the 1960’s, the other a delicately painted schematic rendering made by Westwood in response to his father’s work. Our own relationship to power begins with family, and the idea of ‘the father’s hand’ - a symbol of both hierarchical power and inherited trauma – is a motif Westwood has employed overtly and discretely within his work for several decades. In this work we are alerted to the paradox of homage, it is both an act of respect and erasure as the power of the image irrevocably alters through reproduction.

Photography as a kind of cipher, appears in other works throughout the exhibition. A framed photographic image of lurid pink goo hangs alongside
 a large painting of an intricate medieval interior, where the golden-headed reliquaries of Saints, those ordinary people who once did something miraculous, sit on shelves guarded by a middle-aged woman. The close up photograph of what is in fact hot pink coloured carpenter’s glue with its distinctive pulled sticky peaks (itself a miraculous sealant, a chemical mixture so strong that it can hold together walls) is as meaningful to contemporary society as are the bones of long dead Saints; both offer the hopeful promise of permanency, the alchemical power to transform.The gooey messy stuff of life; that which we are in, and that which we cannot see that we are in, distracts and consumes us, obfuscating the sources and meaning of power. Westwood has followed with fascination the discourses surrounding citizen-led uprisings such as the recent global ‘occupy’ movement, and the utopian driven language of the now radically re-imagined Arab Spring, as these very attempts to break with authority find themselves subsumed by the forces of power they seek to resist. In a large three-panel work, The problems of repair, we find a cluster of small coloured forms surrounded by a maelstrom of marks. Resisting the totalising effect of their circumstance these coloured shapes operate as a still-point in time, and are a metaphor for the present. Spaced in between past and future it is unclear whether these forms are the last, or the first of their kind. On the left hand side of this large canvas sits a small wooden panel showing masked workers occupied with something that sits outside of the picture-frame. On the other side sits a photograph of a mass-produced wall poster that has been almost entirely over painted. Amusingly the alignment of the images suggests that the men might be at work on the large abstract painting, they crouch with arms extended, holding their industrial equipment in a gesture that suggests both manufacture and restoration. Perhaps these workers will complete Westwood’s indeterminate abstraction? &#60;img width="2100" height="1402" width_o="2100" height_o="1402" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e04be3111b809b0111559abc58a42c56134e0f50a2598996f76cd59bc0755a3f/The-poor-Hospital_install-image-3.jpg" data-mid="54749953" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e04be3111b809b0111559abc58a42c56134e0f50a2598996f76cd59bc0755a3f/The-poor-Hospital_install-image-3.jpg" /&#62;


&#60;img width="2100" height="1402" width_o="2100" height_o="1402" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/716c6aee24e510ad20350d18e915bd1a21c89492f8b3253fce27c69fd39005ac/The-Poor-Hospital_install-image-2.jpg" data-mid="54749952" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/716c6aee24e510ad20350d18e915bd1a21c89492f8b3253fce27c69fd39005ac/The-Poor-Hospital_install-image-2.jpg" /&#62;&#60;img width="2100" height="1358" width_o="2100" height_o="1358" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9b0ab4e954d0ec25ba3378a5e990449182f8c73387ab8afd89fcc99225ebaad0/The-Poor-Hospital_install-image.jpg" data-mid="54749956" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9b0ab4e954d0ec25ba3378a5e990449182f8c73387ab8afd89fcc99225ebaad0/The-Poor-Hospital_install-image.jpg" /&#62;&#60;img width="2100" height="1402" width_o="2100" height_o="1402" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e6a541ea768928265beb1f7ac2d9ecb7065929566fed5f622ba9dd8aaf561d78/The-Poor-Hospital_install-image-5.jpg" data-mid="54749955" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e6a541ea768928265beb1f7ac2d9ecb7065929566fed5f622ba9dd8aaf561d78/The-Poor-Hospital_install-image-5.jpg" /&#62;

Figures 1-4.&#38;nbsp;Installation views
Throughout The Poor Hospital (passage and fate) paint as substance – as messy, sticky, dry, slippery matter – reinforces and replicates the uncertain nature of contemporary life. There is a sense of reverberation in these paintings, the paint is applied in the same manner in which knowledge is accumulated, through effort and accident, layered in places, densely amassed, while in others the marks are sparse. The paintings appear to be formed in and of the moment, as if they are only one of many possible solutions. By recognizing that we can’t really know the world in which we live, we can consider the possibility that paint can give form to an alternative type of knowledge. In Passivity; after ‘an episode from a fight’ voluptuous and flaccid conical forms reminiscent of the pink peaks made from the carpenter’s glue in Reliquaries, rise and fall across the picture plane, beneath which a dead figure lies; a once significant character from a war in the middle of the previous century. In this image we find again homage on Westwood’s part, this time to Edouard Manet. The Dead Toreador (1864) is a painting in which Manet positions the body of a dead bull fighter diagonally across a very shallow picture plane, in much the same manner as Westwood does with his dead commandant. In both pictures the figures float without context, in Manet’s a dark field engulfs the toreador, in Westwood’s a miasma erupts and cascades. However, in Westwood’s painting the vortex-like, psychedelic background reminds us that, despite his notoriety, this figure is just another moment in history. 
The artist as the subject and object of power is playfully teased out in The painting, the photograph – the whole shebang, a portrait of Belgian artist Luc Tuymans. Made from a press photograph Westwood encountered of Tuymans after the artist was found guilty of plagiarism through his use of a press photograph as the subject for his painting, A Belgian politician (2011)1. Having built a career around making paired back, enigmatic paintings about the world in which we live by using images from that world, Tuymans, his lawyers and the art world were confounded by the court decision. For Westwood the pre-eminent questions arising from the Tuymans case form through the circular and recurring discourses of power and money. Painted in gold, silver and bronze The painting, the photograph – the whole shebang positions Tuymans at the centre of a power struggle that should be familiar to us: this is the dialectical relationship between the individual and the system, this is the poor hospital. 
— Julia Powles, 2015&#38;nbsp;Notes
1. In reference to a photograph by Alex Salinas. 

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		<title>Drive</title>
				
		<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com/Drive</link>

		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Nov 2019 03:11:16 +0000</pubDate>

		<dc:creator>Peter Westwood</dc:creator>

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Drive, 2013Blindside, Melbourne, Australia


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&#60;img width="3863" height="2027" width_o="3863" height_o="2027" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d765fe913aa8e3e581851d069f6fc0b1ba123b136a307a1b208b0b809b541370/Drive_install_view_2.jpg" data-mid="55350364" border="0" alt="Installation view: video, data projectors, laptop, ipads, perspex, paper, Sculpey, circular ply table tops with aluminium supports, and aluminium foil covering various window panes. Photograph, the artist." data-caption="Installation view: video, data projectors, laptop, ipads, perspex, paper, Sculpey, circular ply table tops with aluminium supports, and aluminium foil covering various window panes. Photograph, the artist." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d765fe913aa8e3e581851d069f6fc0b1ba123b136a307a1b208b0b809b541370/Drive_install_view_2.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="5760" height="3840" width_o="5760" height_o="3840" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6ec46848a53599c199e26857c8f456a7807df6cd62968bfd1999c2c0290f84dc/Drive_install_view_11.jpg" data-mid="55350369" border="0" alt="Installation view: video, data projectors, laptop, ipads, perspex, paper, Sculpey, circular ply table tops with aluminium supports. Photograph, the artist." data-caption="Installation view: video, data projectors, laptop, ipads, perspex, paper, Sculpey, circular ply table tops with aluminium supports. Photograph, the artist." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6ec46848a53599c199e26857c8f456a7807df6cd62968bfd1999c2c0290f84dc/Drive_install_view_11.jpg" /&#62;
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&#60;img width="5760" height="3840" width_o="5760" height_o="3840" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/abdd11bc05f6916b7d94b8cbae389b27cda07e84473452402edf6860f2046365/Drive_install_view_8.jpg" data-mid="55350367" border="0" alt="Installation view: video, data projectors, laptop, ipads, perspex, paper, circular ply table tops. Photograph, the artist." data-caption="Installation view: video, data projectors, laptop, ipads, perspex, paper, circular ply table tops. Photograph, the artist." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/abdd11bc05f6916b7d94b8cbae389b27cda07e84473452402edf6860f2046365/Drive_install_view_8.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="5760" height="3732" width_o="5760" height_o="3732" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7ce80bf333a1e18749549cdd08566953bfd38c83e18ebaccc1bfeb4f1e28b858/Drive_install_view_5.jpg" data-mid="55350366" border="0" alt="Installation view: video, data projectors, laptop, ipads, perspex, paper, circular ply table tops. Photograph, the artist." data-caption="Installation view: video, data projectors, laptop, ipads, perspex, paper, circular ply table tops. Photograph, the artist." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7ce80bf333a1e18749549cdd08566953bfd38c83e18ebaccc1bfeb4f1e28b858/Drive_install_view_5.jpg" /&#62;


This video project focuses on forces and choices that may arbitrarily alter our individual sense of purpose. Drive explores the subject of a city as a place of compulsive movement experienced through random and variable encounters. Through footage captured while driving home from work over countless days, this moving image installation forms through the presentation of chance occurrences to evoke what we all experience when we drive through the city: the recognition of moving towards a destination in our thinking while drifting within our minds, imagining narratives and divergences. In making this work I wanted to establish the experience of flux and impermanence within contemporary society, and the fascination that we have with our ever changing, shifting present.&#38;nbsp;

The city as phenomena has often been presented as a space of alienation, or conversely utopianism, and has been the subject of art since the 19th Century. Drive investigates the city as an inconclusive space, as a location so familiar and habitual to those incessantly moving within their own urban space that we may often experience narratives formed through a type of disembodied interiority. By stepping out of our conscious sense of predetermination and by drifting within our minds while driving, our experience and sense of being may feel more subject to forces or choices that arbitrarily alter our sense of purpose, particularly as journeys by definition usually must go somewhere.
Therefore, in driving and drifting and experiencing fragmentary encounters, the expectation of arrival is constantly frustrated or absent in this work. Drive is located within perpetual movement along with some pointless moments of stasis, all with the uncomfortable suggestion that these two states may in fact be the same thing within an indeterminate and seemingly endless urban zone. The failure of arrival and the lack of a clear narrative focus within this work forces us to re-adjust expectations, as it evokes both potential and inertia.Drive asks that we visit city passages in unfamiliar ways to reflect on experiences formed through various and chance occurrences, to connect to the idea that transit is equally transition, an embodied, and disembodied encounter, and a state formed in perpetual commencements.— Peter Westwood, 2013 

&#60;img width="5760" height="3840" width_o="5760" height_o="3840" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/abdd11bc05f6916b7d94b8cbae389b27cda07e84473452402edf6860f2046365/Drive_install_view_8.jpg" data-mid="55350367" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/abdd11bc05f6916b7d94b8cbae389b27cda07e84473452402edf6860f2046365/Drive_install_view_8.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="5760" height="3732" width_o="5760" height_o="3732" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7ce80bf333a1e18749549cdd08566953bfd38c83e18ebaccc1bfeb4f1e28b858/Drive_install_view_5.jpg" data-mid="55350366" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7ce80bf333a1e18749549cdd08566953bfd38c83e18ebaccc1bfeb4f1e28b858/Drive_install_view_5.jpg" /&#62;Fig 1–2. Installation views.&#38;nbsp;Photographs, the artist.

This project was supported by the City of Melbourne through the Arts Grants Program.
&#60;img width="1800" height="624" width_o="1800" height_o="624" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3d55e0d494aedd532d276d3278504665681351819f27eb3cda6a2dbdb474cfb5/Melbourne-1800x624.png" data-mid="71551747" border="0" data-scale="49" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3d55e0d494aedd532d276d3278504665681351819f27eb3cda6a2dbdb474cfb5/Melbourne-1800x624.png" /&#62;


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		<title>Staring at the World</title>
				
		<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com/Staring-at-the-World</link>

		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Nov 2019 22:08:25 +0000</pubDate>

		<dc:creator>Peter Westwood</dc:creator>

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Staring back at the world, 2013Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney, Australia


&#60;img width="1713" height="980" width_o="1713" height_o="980" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/edf1b204cf27f1ee870988265671f8d9ee6dec40f2f1de633df6cee267e8be5c/Looking-2012.jpg" data-mid="54751818" border="0" data-scale="80" alt="Looking, 2012, oil on linen, 102cm x 136cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Looking, 2012, oil on linen, 102cm x 136cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/edf1b204cf27f1ee870988265671f8d9ee6dec40f2f1de633df6cee267e8be5c/Looking-2012.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1534" height="1301" width_o="1534" height_o="1301" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6da235fecba92b5236104a59ef69b74553cf7667577598d033be971fb030ec75/Next-next-next-next-2011.jpg" data-mid="54751819" border="0" alt="Next, next next &#38;hellip; 2011, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Next, next next … 2011, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6da235fecba92b5236104a59ef69b74553cf7667577598d033be971fb030ec75/Next-next-next-next-2011.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1713" height="1308" width_o="1713" height_o="1308" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c75a1d62354bce4db87144d0b59be3f49d4fe2e83e7c82316559febe619f41aa/No-plan-2-2012.jpg" data-mid="54751820" border="0" alt="No Plan #2, 2012, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="No Plan #2, 2012, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c75a1d62354bce4db87144d0b59be3f49d4fe2e83e7c82316559febe619f41aa/No-plan-2-2012.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1713" height="1478" width_o="1713" height_o="1478" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7d020eecacf33189acb0ec3933793ac0fe7e46f5884388f3a22563a71b57598a/No-plan-2012.jpg" data-mid="54751821" border="0" alt="No plan, 2012, oil on linen, 153cm x 175cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="No plan, 2012, oil on linen, 153cm x 175cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7d020eecacf33189acb0ec3933793ac0fe7e46f5884388f3a22563a71b57598a/No-plan-2012.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1418" height="1091" width_o="1418" height_o="1091" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1bfa7c34cb3347a7c807ad4e88c62fb2101dd92c56b4fd275a2a005aba629c05/Not-too-close-not-too-far-2011-crop.jpg" data-mid="54751822" border="0" alt="Not too close, not too far, 2011, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Not too close, not too far, 2011, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1bfa7c34cb3347a7c807ad4e88c62fb2101dd92c56b4fd275a2a005aba629c05/Not-too-close-not-too-far-2011-crop.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1713" height="1490" width_o="1713" height_o="1490" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/930b350e53fe21e4c371ee26f57a2cce64d80f8dcf684f3b7b9dc92f39faccda/Nowhere-2-2012.jpg" data-mid="54751823" border="0" alt="Nowhere #2, 2012, oil on linen, 110cm x 126cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Nowhere #2, 2012, oil on linen, 110cm x 126cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/930b350e53fe21e4c371ee26f57a2cce64d80f8dcf684f3b7b9dc92f39faccda/Nowhere-2-2012.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1446" height="1100" width_o="1446" height_o="1100" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0d709f723048030d1796f1902cfde499edaf13c4212bcec6e0a734d2c506d5eb/Nowhere-2012.jpg" data-mid="54751824" border="0" alt="Nowhere, 2012, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Nowhere, 2012, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0d709f723048030d1796f1902cfde499edaf13c4212bcec6e0a734d2c506d5eb/Nowhere-2012.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1713" height="1718" width_o="1713" height_o="1718" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/68a795ddc9c8e1d5d1c883c3fcc4692cd0c02f8990fe1fd98d4ba4ed998be294/On-the-inside-2013.jpg" data-mid="54751825" border="0" alt="On the inside, 2013, oil on linen, 112cm x 112cm. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="On the inside, 2013, oil on linen, 112cm x 112cm. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/68a795ddc9c8e1d5d1c883c3fcc4692cd0c02f8990fe1fd98d4ba4ed998be294/On-the-inside-2013.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1195" height="1362" width_o="1195" height_o="1362" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/32c01ba7611ae2d5612e7f2069ac26af9c4a93774f35be4f43b7b42be553ac26/Out-there-2013.jpg" data-mid="54751826" border="0" alt="Out there, 2013, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Out there, 2013, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/32c01ba7611ae2d5612e7f2069ac26af9c4a93774f35be4f43b7b42be553ac26/Out-there-2013.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1002" height="966" width_o="1002" height_o="966" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/469cb74622089c4d368cfaa068a7098c3d56eca36f16f759fc8334da295fc2a8/Show-2013.jpg" data-mid="54751827" border="0" alt="Show, 2013, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Show, 2013, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/469cb74622089c4d368cfaa068a7098c3d56eca36f16f759fc8334da295fc2a8/Show-2013.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1708" height="1253" width_o="1708" height_o="1253" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/03cf40e7775652945eced1d1865041dd9f02558df0c3d2e32af763eeef357d4d/The-last-time-2013.jpg" data-mid="54751828" border="0" alt="The last time, 2013, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="The last time, 2013, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/03cf40e7775652945eced1d1865041dd9f02558df0c3d2e32af763eeef357d4d/The-last-time-2013.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1433" height="1205" width_o="1433" height_o="1205" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8cb5188d90742dfc501604f5a885cea3a21e68b025e2f1fac611d7d114ffdeb5/Transit-zone-2013.jpg" data-mid="54751829" border="0" alt="Transit zone, 2013, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." data-caption="Transit zone, 2013, oil on linen. Photography: Simon Strong." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8cb5188d90742dfc501604f5a885cea3a21e68b025e2f1fac611d7d114ffdeb5/Transit-zone-2013.jpg" /&#62;


The Waiting Places

 The spaces depicted in this group of works are familiar to us, and yet Westwood’s treatment reveals them to be deeply mysterious and perhaps ultimately unknowable. These yards, supermarkets, docking-bays, waiting rooms, lots, terminals, hospitals, foyers and lobbies are the spaces in which we spend a good proportion of our lives, passing through, or marking time on our way to the next ports of call. And yet we barely register them as we drift through, always seemingly on our way to somewhere else. Their omnipresence renders them invisible. Do we ever pause to consider what effect these efficient and efficiently blank spaces have on us? How are we shaped by these vast ‘unnoticed’ structures that play so large a role in our lives?

Westwood has written in relation to this exhibition that: “We stare at the world and the world looks back… we exist within passivity, a state formed through a condition based in viewing, in looking on, consuming, enacting and partaking through inaction.”

There are certain spaces and places that especially engender this passivity within us. These transitory spaces in which we endlessly wait throughout our lives lull us with their unvarying homogeneity. Our experience within them is universal and unvarying: that is their sole purpose.

There are three paintings in the exhibition on the theme of planes and airports. Across the globe, from Melbourne to Mumbai, from Rio to Reykjavík, airports have the same appearance and functionality. We know where we are with them; and they know where they are with us. We arrive, we wait, and we depart, only to arrive and wait and depart from another, identical, place. In his 1997 essay, ‘The Ultimate Departure Lounge’, the British writer J. G. Ballard wrote:Airports have become a new kind of discontinuous city…&#38;nbsp; I suspect that the airport will be the true city of the 21st century. The great airports of the planet are already the suburbs of an invisible world capital, a virtual metropolis whose faubourgs are named Heathrow, Kennedy, Charles de Gaulle, Nagoya, a centripetal city whose population forever circles its notional centre, and will never need to gain access to its dark heart.1
In Out There (2013), we experience the aero-dreamscape from the vantage point of an observation lounge. We look across at another section of the lounge, glimpsed through streaked plate glass. We take in the painterly slabs of brightly-lit tarmac, which bleaches out and dissolves beneath the implacable black void of the night sky. The edges of the airport architecture are scuffed and scumbled, apparently in the process of dematerialising even as we register them. This is a place of anxiety; it is in flux, permanently in the state of becoming, or dissolving. In Transit Zone (2013), the sense of anxiety is continued. A plane waits eternally on the depopulated runway for its never-arriving passengers to come and give it purpose. A storm is approaching. Blossoms of oil and diesel bloom tropically drift across the runway as the reassuring markers of airport functionality devolve: the once-vital signifiers of runway ground lines are here only as practical as the various technical, painterly, smears and swipes with which Westwood constructs his painted airport. In On the inside (2013), we are transported inside a passenger plane. The claustrophobic interior glows womb-like and red. From our position, wedged in our Economy seat, beneath the luggage rack, we witness on the screen above us the globally-understood mime show of an airline safety demonstration. Here, Westwood contemplates the nature of looking, and the hierarchical importance attached to ‘official’ visual information. We look at the painting in which we are afforded, in cinematic-style, a passenger’s point-of-view. We, the viewer/passenger, then gaze at the ‘important’ image on the screen; this visual message is repeated on another screen, further down the aisle, and we know from experience that there are dozens more, out of view. The only ‘real’, figure within this painted cabin denies the purpose of the communication by looking away from the screens. We also look away from the screens in order to acknowledge the man, thereby becoming implicated in the complexity of reception and denial. Perhaps we will even identify with the man at a base level: all plane travellers will know the guilty pleasure and false optimism of paying scant heed to the potentially life-saving information being delivered, over our heads, while we wait impatiently to be ferried to our important destinations. The identical aero-pods we briefly inhabit on our journeys are instantly forgettable spaces in which we wait, suspending real time until we once again step onto the tarmac and re-enter our lives.

The womb-like interior is also evident in the painting Looking (2012), and the same investigation into ways of seeing is employed. In a mysterious crimson room, whose main function is indeterminate, a small group of people waits in front of a screen, upon which is projected an undefined but vaguely figurative image. A mirror stands to the left of the group and, mystifyingly, all appear to be ignoring the screen and gazing into it, with the exception of a white haired man who implicates the viewer of the painting in the action directly, by staring out at us. We are therefore observed as we observe. The conundrum of the image is forever unresolved, embedded as it is in the various layers of looking and the endless, invisible, cross-hatching of sightlines that dart between the real, actual, viewer and the viewers who are frozen within the narrative.


As with airports, our shopping experiences are generic across the western world. As we labour our trolleys down the aisles of our identical supermarkets and mega-malls we are confirmed in the warm glow of certainty born of familiarity. As with air travel, nothing unexpected may be allowed to interrupt the smooth advance and embrace of consumerism. In No plan #2 (2012), the shoppers dissolve within the cold silver shimmer of a kind of shopping-cathedral. Their seemingly trance-like wanderings belie the title of the painting. Their individuality blurs and melts amidst the dazzling shards of neon and they become one with the self-fulfilling prophesy of consumerism. In the second of these shopping paintings, No Plan, we encounter a shopper purposefully striding with bag and trolley through a sprawling shopping-barn. The facial features are obscured and the gender is unspecified. Colours bleach out across the blank, neon-lit interior and architectural features soften under painterly slabs and swipes. The blue and orange floral blobs that decorate the shopper’s shirt are the same blue and orange blobs that mark out the background information at the far end of the supermarket so the shopper’s identity has thus been negated and, so far as it exists, is merely a byproduct of the all-engulfing consumer machine. To paraphrase the old dictum: ‘You Are What You Buy’.

The painting The last time (2013) deals with the fractured, ambiguous relationship we have with nature. Our experience of it is, more often than not, as something we have to pass through on our way to get to somewhere else. We commonly have a more ‘intimate’ relationship with nature through looking at historical landscape paintings or from viewing it on television or in movies, for it is on those friendly screens that we are able to safely observe this vast, wild, unpredictable thing, which lurks just outside our door. Again, this painting places us in a space of anxiety because the signifiers of things to be looked at and our expectations of how we should perceive them have been eroded. Several layers of reality jostle for primacy within the picture and every element presented is a simulacrum. We are inside and we are outside, simultaneously: the central woodland glade may be a painting, a film projected onto a screen, or an ‘actual’ view of nature through a window or portal; above this hangs a spotlit poster whose meaning has been deconstructed through its devolution into a piece of modernist abstraction; is the floor in the foreground carpeted, or is it just carpeted with the autumn leaves of the forest? Perhaps it is both. Suffusing the whole image is the clash of the romantic past with the industrial present, as the functional mechanics of air-conditioning ducts and metallic light slabs hang above the view of the forest like the sword of Damocles.

In Martin Amis’ 2002 essay, ‘The Second Plane’, about the attack on New York’s Twin Towers, he wrote that ‘an edifice so demonstrably comprised of concrete and steel would also become an unforgettable metaphor’.[2] He went on to say that the moment the buildings collapsed was ‘the apotheosis of the postmodern era – the era of images and perceptions.’ Is it now even possible for us to view any demolished building without images from that primary über-demolition muscling into our consciousness? From this point on every building’s demolition and the aftermath of its fall – the crushed concrete, twisted girders and rubble-filled craters - come with a special connotation attached. There are various paintings about demolition in the exhibition. As with the other pictures in the show a number of readings are possible. These broken buildings also have metaphorical potential; they are perhaps ciphers embodying the idea of change, whether positive or negative; or perhaps they are they frozen, half-standing, moments of entropy, forever poised between being and not being. The sliced, flattened frontage of the apartment block in Not too close, not too far could as easily be a painted theatre backdrop as an actual building; the painterly blobs describing the rubble spilling about its foundations are also those depicting the cluster of people observing the spectacle of its demise. The buildings in Next, next, next, next …(2011) have been flattened out across a grid-like picture plane, a black void stretches across their baseline to facilitate their imminent nothingness; their existence and non-existence is here solely dependent on the ideals of modernist abstraction. In Nowhere (2012), the half-demolished structures crouched around a central crater evoke the magical artificiality of theatrical sets constructed on a stage. In the middle-ground the seemingly familiar furniture of the de-construction turns out to be no more than deft, painterly, con-struction. The dark grey space that runs across the bottom of the image emphasises its closed off separateness from the actual.

But, in a sense, all of the paintings in the exhibition exist in a ‘closed off’ and ‘separate’ universe. Each image exists in a state simultaneously of commencement and denouement. The images remind us that ‘to look’ is rarely ‘to know’. In any event, we will have abundant time to contemplate all of this as we fritter away our hours in the next waiting room, on the way to somewhere else.

Steve Cox—2 April, 2013Steve Cox is an artist, writer and academic based in Melbourne.


Notes:J. G. Ballard, ‘The Ultimate Departure Lounge’, The Observer, September 14th, 1997.
Martin Amis, ‘The Second Plane’, The Guardian, September 18th, 2001.

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		<title>Dieback</title>
				
		<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com/Dieback</link>

		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2020 06:03:37 +0000</pubDate>

		<dc:creator>Peter Westwood</dc:creator>

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Dieback, 2010Jenny Port Gallery, Melbourne, Australia


&#60;img width="3000" height="2123" width_o="3000" height_o="2123" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/483b7231ce34f6055d7300c326686a31c70a326dce39d51b61d7cacfac25704f/The-Law-of-Unintended-Consequences-2010.jpg" data-mid="67148942" border="0" data-scale="63" alt="The Law of Unintended Consequences, 2010, Oil on linen, 143cm x 203 cm. Photographs, the artist." data-caption="The Law of Unintended Consequences, 2010, Oil on linen, 143cm x 203 cm. Photographs, the artist." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/483b7231ce34f6055d7300c326686a31c70a326dce39d51b61d7cacfac25704f/The-Law-of-Unintended-Consequences-2010.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2035" height="3113" width_o="2035" height_o="3113" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a21c46393bd47f425db14ba3de10ff7a8f3b97c83acfa9dd94f3696147bb4eda/Thinking-about-the-dismal-science-2010.jpg" data-mid="67148943" border="0" alt="Thinking about the dismal science, 2010, Oil and collage on linen, 170cm x 111cm. Photographs, the artist." data-caption="Thinking about the dismal science, 2010, Oil and collage on linen, 170cm x 111cm. Photographs, the artist." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a21c46393bd47f425db14ba3de10ff7a8f3b97c83acfa9dd94f3696147bb4eda/Thinking-about-the-dismal-science-2010.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2083" height="1941" width_o="2083" height_o="1941" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b58ed5dec2208354575492325270f1f2b76ae12cba7f754c6828a4098eead816/Every-opportunity-has-a-danger-2010.jpg" data-mid="67148944" border="0" alt="Every opportunity has a danger, 2010. Oil on linen, 102 cm x 107 cm. Photographs, the artist." data-caption="Every opportunity has a danger, 2010. Oil on linen, 102 cm x 107 cm. Photographs, the artist." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b58ed5dec2208354575492325270f1f2b76ae12cba7f754c6828a4098eead816/Every-opportunity-has-a-danger-2010.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="3005" height="2367" width_o="3005" height_o="2367" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7e5e44908d57a5b66b2efcda5634f0992cc9d5fe3fa9c3bcbe38d01e7402cd9c/Dear-Head-2010.jpg" data-mid="67148945" border="0" alt="Dear Head, 2010, Oil on linen, 143cm x 203cm. Photographs, the artist." data-caption="Dear Head, 2010, Oil on linen, 143cm x 203cm. Photographs, the artist." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7e5e44908d57a5b66b2efcda5634f0992cc9d5fe3fa9c3bcbe38d01e7402cd9c/Dear-Head-2010.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1974" height="3113" width_o="1974" height_o="3113" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ed90096ac09cd7605f81189fe23248771fec6b51ff32b95cf15895ad2184007b/For-those-of-us-who-are-too-embarrassed-to-use-the-word-society-2010.jpg" data-mid="67148946" border="0" alt="For those who are too embarrassed, 2010, Oil on linen, 180cm x 116cm. Photographs, the artist." data-caption="For those who are too embarrassed, 2010, Oil on linen, 180cm x 116cm. Photographs, the artist." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ed90096ac09cd7605f81189fe23248771fec6b51ff32b95cf15895ad2184007b/For-those-of-us-who-are-too-embarrassed-to-use-the-word-society-2010.jpg" /&#62;


	'An order of sorts' catalogue essay by Julia Powles
	

What do we do when the systems we live by are revealed to be meaningless? Do you make lists? I do. When I make a list I always include at least one item I have already completed. There is always one task that I can strike off immediately. This trick provides enormous relief, giving me peace of mind and the necessary sense of progress required to tackle the remaining jobs. It is as if only by cheating my own imperfect system that I can begin to move out of chaos towards order.

In Peter Westwood’s new works, it is the physical act of painting, of making something out of nothing that creates an order of sorts. It is by layering swathes of colour, by drawing in shapes and defining edges that Westwood creates an order out of the potential that awaits all paintings: the possibility for the subject to disappear into an elemental chaos of pigmented messiness and undisciplined matter. The slippery trick that is painting reveals itself in Westwood’s work: here, a geometric structure that is a doorway, there, a conglomerate of chairs, and occasionally a passage that is nothing to do with reality but everything to do with balance and correctness.

Is the best we can ever hope for a moment of clarity? A moment in which the image before us matches up with our idea of logic? When we crawled out of the primordial mire did we dream in our collective nascent humanity that we would one day be making paintings about the mire that is the great failure of the 20th Century’s political systems to effect social change? And more profoundly, our collective failure to create that elusive but longed for sense of fairness and social order?Westwood’s imagery is sourced from photos he has taken in the course of living. While doing other things, Westwood came across the neatly made bed of a tramp who had set up home under a bridge. While living another life, Westwood wandered through an abandoned building in China and saw the remains of a physics department set up in a University built by Mao in order to educate the same people who might later be publicly denounced on the University’s notice boards. It is impossible not to gasp at the enormity of the failure of global communism. The great leap forward has at the end of the day been as meaningless as the travails of the labourer whose physical expenditure has gone into the building of a physics laboratory that will be, by the time these paintings are made, demolished, rebuilt and erased from memory. Everything passes and the Universe continues to expand. However, if we’re lucky there are some things that might endure. Feeling, for example, remains. A taxidermed head of a deer looks out from the canvas at us, forever startled as it must have been upon the shock of its death, its glass eye staring wildly.


&#60;img width="1710" height="2126" width_o="1710" height_o="2126" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c3d55c806ed449b79f5901c9284ca47f4ab62ddcc232c393ee180420d310dc1f/Dear-Head-install-2.jpg" data-mid="67149285" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c3d55c806ed449b79f5901c9284ca47f4ab62ddcc232c393ee180420d310dc1f/Dear-Head-install-2.jpg" /&#62;fig 1.&#38;nbsp; Dear Head, 2010, installation view.


&#60;img width="3000" height="1867" width_o="3000" height_o="1867" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/625c6005d6a064538d1623aaddce04804f2475233fb701569e864b51f71ebd5a/Dieback-Installation-view-1.jpg" data-mid="67149286" border="0"  src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/625c6005d6a064538d1623aaddce04804f2475233fb701569e864b51f71ebd5a/Dieback-Installation-view-1.jpg" /&#62;fig 2.&#38;nbsp; Dieback installation view.

In an age when the individuals we don’t know are termed randoms, the homeless person whose
bedding was so neat stands as a symbol of our failure to protect each other, our terrible failure to
provide succor, and of our inability to comfort our fellow man. The abandoned University Halls
stand, of-course, as symbols for the failure of modernity to deliver a future that is better than the
past: a future that is kinder and more equitable. Ideologies have come and gone, with barely the
blink of a dead deer’s eye. The same deer that was once running in the wild is now a display in an
obscure museum, visited by few, its hair worn thin from the wear and tear of the tiny insects who
have made it their home.In Westwood’s paintings we learn that the random nature of human existence points towards an
inescapable overarching reality: out of chaos can come no order, just passages of clarity, as
precise and wondrous as a blur of deep pink against a rectangle of orange.

					
Julia Powles, September 2010.
Julia Powles is an artist, curator and writer based in Melbourne.&#38;nbsp;Photographs, the artist.
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		<title>Shape</title>
				
		<link>https://peterwestwoodartist.com/Shape</link>

		<pubDate>Sun, 24 Nov 2019 03:37:19 +0000</pubDate>

		<dc:creator>Peter Westwood</dc:creator>

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Shape, 2003Crossley and Scott Gallery, Melbourne


&#60;img width="3219" height="2244" width_o="3219" height_o="2244" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/297837253e7ec4df0d20a08a2f280b7e0e28eac724751e4470f646fdcf6e0b99/Close-fit.jpg" data-mid="55351466" border="0" alt="Close Fit, 2003. Acrylic on paper, 69 cm x 100 cm." data-caption="Close Fit, 2003. Acrylic on paper, 69 cm x 100 cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/297837253e7ec4df0d20a08a2f280b7e0e28eac724751e4470f646fdcf6e0b99/Close-fit.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1090" height="621" width_o="1090" height_o="621" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6c5b2829a52bc740bc7367cee03c372c594a6c05277ae6754b7f332e5fa8321a/Capacity.jpg" data-mid="55351465" border="0" data-scale="100" alt="Capacity, 2004. Oil on linen, 83 cm x 144 cm." data-caption="Capacity, 2004. Oil on linen, 83 cm x 144 cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/6c5b2829a52bc740bc7367cee03c372c594a6c05277ae6754b7f332e5fa8321a/Capacity.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1453" height="1876" width_o="1453" height_o="1876" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/35c694d784e1a37d880946d68868c0b062aabbbab916e1f6fea1f2370188298a/Yellow-Snow.jpg" data-mid="55351476" border="0" alt=" Yellow snow, 2004. Gouache on rice paper, 138 cm x 100 cm." data-caption=" Yellow snow, 2004. Gouache on rice paper, 138 cm x 100 cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/35c694d784e1a37d880946d68868c0b062aabbbab916e1f6fea1f2370188298a/Yellow-Snow.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="3425" height="2752" width_o="3425" height_o="2752" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4d0e4e0e902fc6c8ad745f878fa5d8becf616f80b98fe9909cf9987709db3f85/Who-Knows.jpg" data-mid="55351475" border="0" alt="Who Knows, 2003. Gouache, acrylic and collage on paper, 60 cm x 75 cm." data-caption="Who Knows, 2003. Gouache, acrylic and collage on paper, 60 cm x 75 cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4d0e4e0e902fc6c8ad745f878fa5d8becf616f80b98fe9909cf9987709db3f85/Who-Knows.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2506" height="1690" width_o="2506" height_o="1690" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e66785483dc152ef0257f55d08c3b99ee6a13f9fd2c01249b63881dde7190713/Risk-or-zest-Olsen_s-crash.jpg" data-mid="55351474" border="0" alt="Risk #1, 2004. Oil on linen, 83 cm x 123 cm." data-caption="Risk #1, 2004. Oil on linen, 83 cm x 123 cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e66785483dc152ef0257f55d08c3b99ee6a13f9fd2c01249b63881dde7190713/Risk-or-zest-Olsen_s-crash.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="3425" height="2746" width_o="3425" height_o="2746" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/24e5d94404f0566b7a900c72d7f628fdd55eabf2834196e338d87d56f0bb22ff/Risk-or-zest-2.jpg" data-mid="55351473" border="0" alt="Risk #2, 2003. Oil and collage on linen, 83 cm x 123 cm." data-caption="Risk #2, 2003. Oil and collage on linen, 83 cm x 123 cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/24e5d94404f0566b7a900c72d7f628fdd55eabf2834196e338d87d56f0bb22ff/Risk-or-zest-2.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="1332" height="1066" width_o="1332" height_o="1066" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/56df00930dad733df39dcc78af187ad94699a1485cbdfcbbcea05430c6792bed/Pep-Talk-1.jpg" data-mid="55351470" border="0" alt="Pep Talk, 2003. Oil on linen, 83 cm x 123 cm. Art Bank (Sydney) Collection. " data-caption="Pep Talk, 2003. Oil on linen, 83 cm x 123 cm. Art Bank (Sydney) Collection. " src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/56df00930dad733df39dcc78af187ad94699a1485cbdfcbbcea05430c6792bed/Pep-Talk-1.jpg" /&#62;
&#60;img width="2676" height="1577" width_o="2676" height_o="1577" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8300b3879d394358ea1dbbea7b9595c97502b510374ac9dfcdd694be8f3907b1/Day-and-Night.jpg" data-mid="55351467" border="0" alt="Day and night, 2004. Oil on linen, 123 cm x 172 cm." data-caption="Day and night, 2004. Oil on linen, 123 cm x 172 cm." src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8300b3879d394358ea1dbbea7b9595c97502b510374ac9dfcdd694be8f3907b1/Day-and-Night.jpg" /&#62;

	Postscript:All paintings involve images, and all images are shapes within paintings. Paintings hold multiple pictorial properties due to our simultaneous perception of images and shapes, and our awareness of pictorial depth coupled with the recognition that a conventional painting is equally a flat plane. These ideas are well accepted in the field of painting, and therefore it can be said that most paintings are ambiguous in one way or another, and that this ambiguity can be explored to create feeling. Therefore, given the differing characteristics of a painting, many of the works in Shape appeared to purposefully hover in spaces that formed via conceptual and expressive ambiguities. While this allowed for a variety of associations to emerge within each work, it also provided a perplexing overall exhibition experience for the viewer. 


With equivocality at the centre, these paintings evoke some of the feelings of our contemporary times through representations of perplexing, indefinite and oblique imageries. In thinking about how we might grasp the character of our times, the philosopher Peter Osbourne, considers that our contemporary is to be understood through conjunctions, where we experience the coming together of different but equally present temporary and fluid states, while philosopher Boris Groys deems our times to be uncertain, uncanny. We recognize that everything forms and reforms, and then retro forms, only to disintegrate.&#38;nbsp; Shape speculated on the notion that that we live within a flowing and continuing arcane condition, and that this is simply how things are for us.
 
Photographs, the artist.

Notes: 
Osbourne, P., (2018), The Postconceptual Condition, London: Verso.&#38;nbsp; 

Groys, B. (2016). In the flow. London: Verso.  
	
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