Peter Neilson

SYMPOSIUM

The Task of Painting Today: The Work of Peter Neilson

Saturday 26 October 3pm – 6pm

This symposium is designed to explore the profound and layered artistry of Peter Neilson, a painter whose work challenges conventional narratives and engages deeply with the complexities of human experience. This gathering is not only an academic exploration but also a celebration of Neilson’s long-standing contribution to the visual arts, encouraging a deep and critical appreciation of his work among new audiences and seasoned art lovers alike. Speakers include:

Iqbal Barkat, Senior Lecturer in Screen Production at Macquarie University.

Andrew Benjamin, Honorary Professor in the School of Communication and Cultural Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne.

Lucy Benjamin, postdoctoral research fellow in Architectural Theory and Creative Practice.

Justin Clemens, a University of Melbourne lecturer and author of Barron Field in New South Wales (Melbourne University Publishing, 2023), co-written with Thomas H. Ford.

Maree Delofski, an accomplished filmmaker, serves as an Adjunct Senior Fellow a t Macquarie University.

Annie McDermott, a filmmaker pursuing a PhD by creative practice.

Space limited RSVP essential. Book here to attend or contact melbourne@australiangalleries.com.au

A USTRALIAN G ALLERIES

MELBOURNE

PETER NEILSON

Held in the Gaze of a Stranger

Opening Night

Tuesday 22 October 20 24 6pm – 8pm

35 Derby Street Collingwood VIC 3066

Symposium

The Task of Painting Today:

The Work of Peter Neilson

Saturday 26 October 3pm – 6pm

Exhibition Dates

Tuesday 22 October – 9 November 2024

Open 7 days 10am – 6pm T 03 9417 4303 melbourne@australiangalleries.com.au australiangalleries.com.au

Cover: Political Theatre: The Way (and wolves are watching) (detail) 2024 oil on linen 92 x 190 cm

Opposite: Crude thinking (its ancestors) 2022 oil on treated paper mounted on canvas 58 x 153 cm

Photography: Viki Petherbridge

Held in the Gaze of a Stranger

The title of the 2024 exhibition of my paintings at Australian Galleries, Melbourne is Held in the Gaze of a Stranger. It is a reminder to me that the work of art, is not only being looked at, but is also looking back at us, with a steady gaze.

Because our lives are being directed more and more, and largely without consent, via ‘thinking’ devices in every household, the paintings worth painting in this moment of history are, for me, to be found among the ones that are handmade, start to finish, by one person, acting alone.

However, in passing, a quiet thank you to the canvas-maker, the stretcher-maker, the paint-maker, the gallery, owner and staff, and all the authors of all the books I’ve read, and their publishers and staff and all involved in the distribution of those books, and the café staff that made and served up the coffees while I read those books. Oh, and to all the friends and kith and kin with whom I discuss all and everything, and who I learn from every single day.

Come to think of it, just to get here to see this exhibition, perhaps we should extend our thanks to the road-makers, the car-mechanics, the street sweepers, and streetlight globe-changers and a thousand others including the engineers and workers who checked the safety of the bridge we crossed over just to make it here in one piece. So, on second thoughts, perhaps we do not act “as one, working alone”.

As the American poet Robert Frost wrote in the finishing lines of his poem The Tuft of Flowers , ’Men work together, I told him from the heart, / Whether they work together or apart.”

Being the individual I-am-becoming these paintings are for me in this moment of history, worth painting.

Finally, some further thoughts related to the discontinuous, disjunctive compositional structure of my paintings, which it seems is as old as old

From The Penguin Book of Haiku

Translated and edited by Adam L. Kern

Pub. Penguin Random House UK 2018

According to traditionalist accounts haiku has two major requirements . . . The first, though broadly undervalued requirement, is the ‘cutting word’ (kireji) or ‘cut’ (kire), a device that brings about a strong dramatic pause in the meaning of a verse as well as its rhythm. The cut overcomes brevity by rending the verse into two superficially unrelated portions, beckoning the reader to step in and, through a strategy of intuition or inspiration or allusional detective work, if not cold logic, search for some underlying connection. The cut, it might be said, splices as well as dices. It establishes twin cathodes that the reader must bring [together]… generating an imaginative spark. A technique of disjunction, says Richard Gilbert, the cut triggers a cognitive shift. ... This disjunctive logic of the cut, by creating negative space (ma) enjoining reader involvement, is the logic of linked verse and of the wit in witty linked verse.

Peter Neilson, 2024

The night they crossed the border. Having to leave.

Having to return. 2021 oil on linen 150 x 300 cm

Born 1944 Melbourne, Australia

1961-1964 Diploma of Fine Art (Painting), RMIT, Melbourne

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024 ‘Held in the Gaze of a Stranger’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2023 ‘Drawing on what has already been suggested’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2022 ‘History Painting. Looking back to now.’, Australian Galleries, Sydney

2020 ‘Agitation in Swingtime’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2019 ‘Staring into the middle distance’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2018 ‘Pretty Delicate’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2017 ‘Relics from an Inquisition: The Hollywood Ten… plus’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2016 ‘Toys’, Australian Galleries, Sydney

2015 ‘Paintings’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street Melbourne

2014 ‘Drawings: Bark’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne

2013 ‘…plus stances, shadows and portraits’, Australian Galleries, Roylston Street, Sydney

2012 ‘In a minor key’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne ‘Singing in the kitchen’, Australian Galleries, Glenmore Road, Sydney

2011 ‘New Works’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne

2010 ‘Interludes’, Australian Galleries, Smith Street, Melbourne

2009 ‘Shifting Borders: Lines in the Sand’, Australian Galleries, Sydney ‘Australien Phantasie’, Galerie Seywald, Salzburg, Austria

2008 ‘Myths, Fairytales and Legends: all our memories in a ditch so deep’, Melbourne Art Fair, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2007 ‘Constellations’, Australian Galleries, Sydney

2006 ‘Reading between the lines: Small works’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne ‘One step ahead’, Australian Galleries at Depot Gallery, Sydney

2005 ‘Drifting South, always South’, Australian Galleries, Sydney

2004 ‘Out and about in the dark morning streets’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2003 ‘All night long’, Australian Galleries, Sydney

2002 ‘Through the arcades, looking for trouble’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

1999 ‘Last but one’, Pinacotheca Gallery, Melbourne

1996 ‘Peter Neilson Paintings’, Diane Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne

1992 ‘Peter Neilson Drawings’, Delbridge Street Gallery, Melbourne

1991 ‘Peter Neilson Drawings’, Delbridge Street Gallery, Melbourne

1990 ‘Peter Neilson Drawings’, Delbridge Street Gallery, Melbourne

1987 ‘Peter Neilson Drawings’, Gryphon Gallery, Melbourne

1967 ‘Peter Neilson Dickie Paintings’, Tolarno Galleries, Melbourne

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019 ‘papermade’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2014 ‘one of each’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne

2013 ‘Australian Galleries exhibition’, Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree, NSW

2012-13

‘Australian Galleries at Gallows Gallery’, Gallows Gallery, Perth

‘Summer Stock Show’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne

2011 ‘large exhibition of small works’, Australian Galleries, Roylston Street, Sydney

‘large exhibition of small works’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne

‘Summer Exhibition’, Australian Galleries, Roylston Street, Sydney

2010 ‘Summer stock show’, Australian Galleries, Smith Street, Melbourne

‘Narrative Realism: A world observed’, Australian Galleries, Roylston Street, Sydney

Blake Prize finalist and exhibitor in its Australia-wide touring exhibition

2009-10

‘Summer Show’, Australian Galleries, Roylston Street, Sydney

‘Summer Stock Show’, Australian Galleries, Derby Street, Melbourne

2009 ‘A sculpture by…’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2007 ‘Summer Stock Show’, Australian Galleries Works on Paper, Sydney

‘ Small Pleasures’, Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Melbourne

‘Stock Show’ Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Melbourne

2006 ‘Summery’, Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Sydney

‘New Year group exhibition’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

‘Stock Show’, Australian Galleries Painting & Sculpture, Melbourne

‘50th Anniversary Exhibition’, 5th June, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

2005 ‘End of Year Group Exhibition’, Australian Galleries Painting and Sculpture, Sydney

‘Australian Contemporary Art’, De Récourt Art in association with Australian Galleries at The Gallery in Cork Street, London

‘Small Important Works’, Australian Galleries, Sydney

2003 ‘New work’, Australian Galleries, Sydney

2002 ‘2002 Opening Exhibition’, Australian Galleries, Melbourne

1997 ‘Urban’, curated by David Ryan, RMIT Arts Project Space, Melbourne

COMMISSIONS

2010-11 Portrait of Sir Rod Carnegie for Trinity College, Melbourne University

COLLECTIONS

Melbourne City Council, Trinity College