A world without words
May 6th - May 16th 2014

Australian artist Peter Coad spent the first 10 years of his life in a small country town called Karoonda, in the Mallee region of south Australia, surrounded by huge, inspiring vistas and enormous skies. “The landscape was my playground and discovering nature was my education. I believe this is why I can paint landscape the way I do. It is in my subconscious,” he says.

Coad’s career has always been inextricably linked with art, in one way or another. He started out as a signwriter/screenprinter, and during that period he worked with four colleagues whom he credits with influencing how his life evolved in the arts. “One had a meticulous brush stroke; one was an eccentric painter; one an ex-theatre scene and poster painter; and the other was an American world traveller and storyteller. Without realising it, their lives, stories and techniques had an impact on me and my art. They taught me without directly teaching me.

Having a strong connection to the land is something that has always been important to Coad, and he often speaks of his need to travel and be out on the land to gather inspiration for his work. “I need the landscape to make me feel at peace and some people who go from cities out into the open landscape have told me of an amazing sensation of freedom and a warm comforting feeling of a connection to nature. I believe we all need this experience to live in harmony with the land.”

When you see a painting by Peter Coad, you’ll feel the positive vibrancy of it before you even clock the incredible colours and the dynamic lie of the land. “When I visit and work in landscape it is always during the early morning and late evening,” he says. “These times produced the most vibrant and powerful of all nature’s colours.

“The great part about my life is that I just need to paint,” Coad says. “Fortunately, there are many people who are attracted to my work and I guess the knowledge that someone does, inspires me to continue.”

And continue he will – travelling and painting –recording nature and its ever-changing guises.

Please join us for the exhibition opening on May 6th from 5:30pm at our Sofitel Wentworth Gallery. 61 - 101 Phillip Street Sydney. To RSVP call (02) 9222 1042.