Peter Doig is My New Hero Hands-Down.
(...I took a bunch of photos before I realized that you weren't supposed to - there are more over here...)
So I got to see the Peter Doig retrospective at the Tate when we were in London last month and I am so glad that I did! I have been interested in Doig's work for awhile now but had only ever seen one before in real life, so it was really mind-blowing to check out all of his best peices in one exhibition.
There were a couple of things that I thought were really interesting about the show - the first being one room which included a collection of drawings and sketches for the final paintings. The drawings of course were equally as beautiful and engrossing as the larger paintings, and it was cool to see how a certain group of drawings led up to the final piece. I also found out in the video recorded interview with Doig that was playing out front of the exhibition (and they put it online too - awesome!!) - that he often makes etchings of the drawings to use as a reference when he is working on the final painting - which I thought might account for all the really interesting textures and tonal values of the finished paintings.
I think it's this kind of technique that adds to the magical look and emotive quality of some of his best work. His most recent paintings are starting to move away from that technique (I think he talks about that in the video), which I could understand, but there is something really special that happens in those peices where he includes all the different levels of ummmm..."painterly communication", for lack of a better word. Maybe coming from a print-making background I also have a real soft-spot for those kind of speckly, tonal shifts in the surface...
I know this is getting long-winded but the last thing I wanted to mention was my real appreciation for this type of work that is almost a throwback to the late 19th century, so refreshingly honest, romantic and emotional in nature, concerned with formal elements like composition, colour, painterly control and release, (though with enough conceptual back-bone to not be sentimental). Compared to the kind of endless pseudo-teen-angsty and tiresomely ironic gestures that most artists are making these days (check out the Whitney Biennial for example), Doig's work seems so confident and mature - and along with friend and contemporary Chris Ofili, I am hoping maybe pointing towards a new movement in art-making. Perhaps more reflective and formally self-aware than insecurely posturing.
Alright - I dredged up almost every link I could find - just to make sure you were fully on the up-and-up with what I would consider to be one of the most important living painters of this century - and did I mention he is partly Canadian?? Anyway. So here you go:
...Here are a few more pieces from the exhibition (on someone else's flickr)...
...Here is his wiki page...
...Here is an article and an interview with Doig and Ofili in Bomb Magazine...
...More work here at the Victoria Miro gallery...
...even more work, a video, and an interview on the Guardian website...
...Here at Contemporary Fine Arts...
...One last interview at Time Out magazine...
...Books you should get (and me too) - here and here...
Okay. That is it. Sheesh. I'm tired now...
Bye!
There were a couple of things that I thought were really interesting about the show - the first being one room which included a collection of drawings and sketches for the final paintings. The drawings of course were equally as beautiful and engrossing as the larger paintings, and it was cool to see how a certain group of drawings led up to the final piece. I also found out in the video recorded interview with Doig that was playing out front of the exhibition (and they put it online too - awesome!!) - that he often makes etchings of the drawings to use as a reference when he is working on the final painting - which I thought might account for all the really interesting textures and tonal values of the finished paintings.
I think it's this kind of technique that adds to the magical look and emotive quality of some of his best work. His most recent paintings are starting to move away from that technique (I think he talks about that in the video), which I could understand, but there is something really special that happens in those peices where he includes all the different levels of ummmm..."painterly communication", for lack of a better word. Maybe coming from a print-making background I also have a real soft-spot for those kind of speckly, tonal shifts in the surface...
I know this is getting long-winded but the last thing I wanted to mention was my real appreciation for this type of work that is almost a throwback to the late 19th century, so refreshingly honest, romantic and emotional in nature, concerned with formal elements like composition, colour, painterly control and release, (though with enough conceptual back-bone to not be sentimental). Compared to the kind of endless pseudo-teen-angsty and tiresomely ironic gestures that most artists are making these days (check out the Whitney Biennial for example), Doig's work seems so confident and mature - and along with friend and contemporary Chris Ofili, I am hoping maybe pointing towards a new movement in art-making. Perhaps more reflective and formally self-aware than insecurely posturing.
Alright - I dredged up almost every link I could find - just to make sure you were fully on the up-and-up with what I would consider to be one of the most important living painters of this century - and did I mention he is partly Canadian?? Anyway. So here you go:
...Here are a few more pieces from the exhibition (on someone else's flickr)...
...Here is his wiki page...
...Here is an article and an interview with Doig and Ofili in Bomb Magazine...
...More work here at the Victoria Miro gallery...
...even more work, a video, and an interview on the Guardian website...
...Here at Contemporary Fine Arts...
...One last interview at Time Out magazine...
...Books you should get (and me too) - here and here...
Okay. That is it. Sheesh. I'm tired now...
Bye!
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