Rock & Roll Harbour
Exhibition by The Shop Gallery
112 Glebe Point Road, Glebe
Thurs January 3 – Wed Jan 9
Peter Gow is the people’s artist.
His ouvre is driven by his down-to-earth, inner-city environment such as boathouses and the heritage-listed Sydney Harbour Bridge in various attitudes, all of which feature prominently in this exhibition.
Gow is a qualified electrician and builder as well, very handy for making the frames in his spare time that embrace his art.
His deep, rich, contrasting colours leap from his palette onto the canvas. His short brush strokes create a palindrome that both refract and reflect our own lives through a prism of vibrant tinctures.
Art is language: it should tell the truth and the whole truth about our past and present including our ignorance, arrogance and negligence of our precious environment.
And all Gow’s art tells a story: it’s a story of overcoming and redemption, which is only constrained by our own imagination.
His artworks are paens of praise celebrating our love of life and enjoyment of relationships within it.
His style is often in the form of a humouresque, pointedly reminding us of our own fragility in our local urban environment.
Great art is transcendent: it supersedes the moment, pointing not to itself but something else, such as the viewer. The viewer looks between the paint and brushstrokes to understand its language and message. Great art describes the invisible world; it hints at the hidden story.
Peter Gow says: “On weekends I take a look around inner Sydney and am seduced and captivated by its beauty and its light, its water and its air.
“I paint my thoughts as a hidden story. Many people hide their thoughts, but as I age I need to paint mine.”