Blue Daisy Chain: Exhibition of Work by Peter Cleverley

Peter Cleverley has secured himself a place in the history of New Zealand art: for over thirty-five years he has been painting in his native Oamaru, where the great New Zealand writer Janet Frame spent the majority of her childhood. Peter continues to create in a tiny studio located in Kakanui, whose variegated skies, blue seas and "horseshoe bluff" mark his work, providing, along with his many travels, "the matrix" for his art, in the words Hal Smith, writing for Art New Zealand in 1988. Peter is indeed a regional artist in the sense that he is of the region, "a product of our own patch of earth", again in the words of Hal Smith. His concerns are, nonetheless, global, as he continues to explore what he calls "the human condition" in all its complexities.

His exhibition Blue Daisy Chain, running on 9 October. Offering the viewer a set of paintings produced within a specific time period by an artist dans la force de l’âge - at the height of his powers, enriched by long years spent refining his craft. The subject matter derives from his memories, "blue daisy chain" (the painting which gave the exhibition its title), for example, referring to his childhood activities. "All Twenty Nine", a reference to the Pike River Mine victims of 2010, arises out of a national trauma, while "knitted flowers – Bangkok" conjures up an encounter the artist had in Thailand with a young woman selling "knitted flowers" from her wheel chair. In contrast "Jimi Hendrix Experience with a vase of flowers" evokes the eponymous singer who died tragically from an overdose at the age of 27--and the music of Peter’s youth. The deeply affective nature of these renditions owes much to the fact that this artist has mastered his medium--in particular, he is a colourist of unrivalled virtuosity, painting frequently in gouache and water colour, with the finished work hovering undefinably between figuration and abstraction.

Image: Peter Cleverley, "blue daisy chain", 2020. Medium: gouache & water colour on Bockingford paper. Dimensions: hght 275mm x wdth 380mm.