Died 10 October 2013 | ||
John Peart (10 December 1946 – 10 October 2013) was an Australian contemporary artist. Peart won the Wynne Prize in 1997, the Sulman Prize in 2000, and was a finalist for the Archibald Portrait Prize.
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Participation in 'The Field'
In 1968 he participated in the influential exhibition 'The Field' at the National Gallery of Victoria, which was linked to the Colour field expressionism movement. In the same year he won a series of major prizes, which gave him the funds to travel, and then subsequently to move to Wiltshire, in England, where he lived with his family for some years. Soon after this exhibition, he dramatically shifted away from his early painting style, characterized by “rich colour and bold geometry”, towards monochromatic, minimalist designs.
Widden Wedden, Wedderburn
In the 1980's, he moved to Widden Weddin, Wedderburn, an informal group of artists based on a 25 acre property approximately 60 kilometres south of Sydney. This was part of a shift towards a specifically Australian style of art – he later said “I realised that painting was not developing along a linear path dictated entirely by New York, then I got busy rediscovering Australia".
Artistic Philosophy
Peart was interested in Eastern philosophy, the Sculptor Paul Selwood said of him, "Peart's life is a spiritual quest; painting is a process of 'becoming' through aesthetic perception", and his friend Roy Jackson used a Taoist quote to describe his artistic philosophy "The method that consists in no method is the perfect method."
Death
Peart died in Wedderburn in 2013, after being overcome by smoke from a fire.