Graham Peacock Artwork Currently for Sale
Graham Peacock
Born in London, England, Graham Peacock attended the University of London, Goldsmith’s School of Art from 1962 –1966; Leeds College of Art, 1966 – 67, and studied at The British School in Rome. Graham Peacock is a well known contemporary Canadian artist. The artist was a member of the art group known as the New New Painters.
In 1981 Kenneth Moffett, (former curator of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston), witnessed Graham Peacock ‘raking and squeegeeing paint onto big, heavy ply rugs and other unlikely surfaces, trying anything he could think of to find a new way. “I loved his all-out, go for broke approach. He didn’t care what others thought and he was not afraid to make a fool of himself. He was going to be himself no matter what.” 1
”Peacock’s revelation came in 1982 in a series of blue and white, shaped pictures which he dubbed the “Polo” series. They showed a nasty, jagged, small scale drawing which he had achieved by working on the floor pouring one flood of color over another and, so controlling the drying of each, as to get a crackling, electric, crazing, revealing sharply contrasting colors from below. These Polo pictures had harshness, a dryness, and an edgy “ugliness”. They were raw and intense and they felt very original. They went completely against the prevailing style of those who saw themselves as carrying on the tradition of Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting: that of Jules Olitski with its exquisite refinement and sublime beauties. Peacock was confirmed in his heresy by Lucy Baker whose artistic personality was even less in sympathy with Olitski’s than his and whose work of that time also challenged to Olitski’s hegemony. Here, in 1982, was the beginning of New New painting.”2
New New is a group of 12 painters who represent the recent wave of the post-war, modernist mainstream. They all have been influenced by Color Field and especially Jules Olitski. But they have gone on to create something new by reaffirming the painting of Jackson Pollock and the Abstract Expressionists. Like the latter and like the early non-objective painters such as Kandinsky and Mondrian, New New proclaim the spiritual, and love freedom more than beauty. – “Kenneth Moffett, former curator and director for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.”3
“Another crucial factor for the New New has been the development of plastic paint. The New New generation was the first to have available to it, almost from the first, acrylics, as a full-bodied, painting medium, with all the capabilities of oils and much more. Part of the excitement of the New New painters lie in their audaciously experimental approach to this brand new, still very much evolving, medium. And no one has plunged into it with more abandon than Peacock. No one has searched out and discovered so many of its secrets and possibilities. He is the only member of the New New to make his own acrylic gel and from the start he has been at the forefront of the new technology. He could be called a master alchemist turning plastic into artistic gold.”
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
Graham Peacock has been the subject of 35 solo exhibitions including:
Graham Peacock at 60, a Retrospective twenty three year survey, The Art Gallery of Alberta; 2005
Graham Peacock, The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, B.C, 1995
Atlantic Provinces Art Circuit, Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland
Peter Robertson Gallery Edmonton, Canada
Gallery One, Toronto, Canada
Galerie Dambier Massett, Paris, France
Galerie Don Stewart, Montreal
Waddington ShielL Galleries and Glenmore Gallery, Toronto
The Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta
Vanderleelie Gallery, Alberta
Gallery on Whyte, Banff, Alberta
Martin Gerard Gallery
Hett Gallery,
Latitude 53 Gallery, Edmonton
Woltjen Udell Gallery, Edmonton
Virginia Christopher Galleries, Calgary
Alberta College of Art Gallery, Calgary, Alberta
Hughes Art Ltd., Victoria, B.C.
The British School at Rome, Italy.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
From 1989 until 2002 Graham Peacock has exhibited in 38 international exhibitions with a group of artists who became known as
the “New New Painters”various exhibitions including:
Hotel de Ville, Brussels, Belgium
Musee des Beaux Arts, Waterloo, Belgium
Musee des Beaux Arts, Charleroi, Belgium
Art Frankfurt, Germany
Art Cologne ‘93
Galerie Tily Haderek, Stuttgart, Germany
Stadtische Galerie, Goppingen, Germany
Museum of Moderner Kunst, Siftung Ludwig and Konfrontationen Neuerwerbungen, Vienna
Galerie Dambier Masset, France
Galerie Piltzer, Paris, France
Salon d’Art Contemporain de Montrouge, France
Discouvert 93, The Grande Palais, France
Fiore International d’Art Contemporain(FIAC), in Paris, France
Musee D’Art Modern et D’Art Contemporian, Nice, France
Galerie Vecchio 2, Cannes, France
The British Council, Rome, Italy
Johannesburg Art Foundation, South Africa
Gallery Ism, Seoul, South Korea
City University of New York, NYC
Salander O’Reilly Galleries, New York
The New York International Art Fair New York
Hunter College Art Gallery, New York
Chicago International 94, Chicago
Art Chicago International Exhibition, Chicago
Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver
‘Flint Institute for the Arts, Flint, Michigan
The Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida
‘Miami International Art Fair, Miami, Florida
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Museum of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, Florida
Gallery Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida ;
The Atwood Gallery, Worcester, Mass
Stamford Festival of the Arts, Conn
National Arts Centre and The National Gallery, Ottawa, Canada;
The Art Gallery of Ontario,
Gallery One, Toronto
Waddington Sheill Galleries, Toronto, Canada
Saidye Bronfman Centre, Montreal, Canada
Greater Victoria Art Gallery, Victoria, Canada
The Alberta Art Foundation, Canada
XI Commonwealth Games Commemorative Exhibition, Edmonton
The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba, Canada
INCLUDED IN FOLLOWING PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:
Museum of Modern Art, Vienna.
Foundation Ludwig Wein, Austria.
National Gallery of Prague, Czech Republic.
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, ‘Hines Collection, U.S.A.
Canadian Federal Affairs, Tokyo, Japan.
Canadian Embassy, Warsaw, Poland.
Embassy of Japan, Warsaw, Poland.
Government of Canada, ‘Canadiana Fund, Ottawa.
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax.
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia.
University College of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Foundation for Art, Government of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A.
University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada,
Government of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada,
Edmonton Court House Alberta,
British Embassy, Rome, Italy.
Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta, Canada .
Leeds Education Authority, Yorkshire, England.
Peacock was President of the Alberta Society of Artists 1972 and 1973; Founding member of The Edmonton Contemporary Artists’
Society 1992, and The New New Painters 1990; A 400 page full colour Monograph Graham Peacock A Retrospective was published
in 2005 and is available from the Art Gallery of Alberta