Peter Hudson 'Life Is No Way To Treat An Animal' Exhibition

PAST 16 to 30 October 2015

Peter Hudson

Peter Hudson ‘Life Is No Way To Treat An Animal’ Exhibition

“I acknowledge that we need to have more reverence for that huge mystery and power by which wild animals conduct their lives. I paint these images to remind myself, and if the audience is reminded, then the work has done its job…… Continue reading

Don't miss out

Always be the first to know about exhibitions, events and new art releases.

…Night skies awash with vast layers of stars… a defiant young elephant performing worn-out circus tricks… schools of fish instinctively migrating through rippling water toward the moon: these are a few of the subtly startling images Peter Hudson presents to us in his contemporary bestiary of “super creatures”.

Poised in lyrical portraits, these animals lead us deeply into the mysterious, mythic strata of Nature’s intelligence. Hudson works to tap into “all the powers these animals have – for which we give them little credit.” He acts as a naturalist of their spirit, depicting his chosen fauna based upon straight-forward observation as well as through a poetic lens focused by rapport with the natural world.
Not unlike the historical bestiaries – medieval manuscripts (describing both real and imagined beasts and birds) compiled to teach proper Christian conduct – Hudson’s drawings and paintings suggest a learning relationship with the wild.

Yet Hudson’s paintings have little to do with prescribing corrective doctrine.
Instead, he speaks to our longing for continued connection to nature, inviting us to marvel with him at the manner in which these super creatures – like the wild, undomesticated birds, fish and mantas he paints – “know exactly how to live softly on this Earth. We need them, but they don’t need us.”
He explains: “I acknowledge that we need to have more reverence for that huge mystery and power by which wild animals conduct their lives. I paint these images to remind myself, and if the audience is reminded, then the work has done its job… In the end, they’re pictures: they have to be fun to look at.”

Peter Hudson

Peter Hudson (b. 1950), is a landscape and portrait painter who lives and works in Maleny, Queensland. Since the late 1990s he has explored aspects of the natural world, astronomy, mythology, and history to investigate ‘the deep mystery of existence and us being here’. In 1998, he made the first of many trips to the Aboriginal communities of Daguragu and Kalkarinji in Gurindji country in the Northern Territory. The Gurindji people, their land, and the story of the Wave Hill walk-off have been major influences on his work, and led him to his current interest in portraiture. He illustrated the children’s book of the 2008 song by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody, ‘From Little Things, Big Things Grow’, making portraits of Kelly and Carmody as well; one of his portraits of Kelly was a finalist in the 2007 Archibald Prize. Since then he has illustrated the books of Shane Howard’s song ‘Solid Rock’, making a portrait of Howard along the way, and Neil Murray’s ‘My Island Home’. Hudson exhibits regularly, has won a number of regional art prizes, and is represented in the collections of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and Parliament House, Brisbane, among others. The National Portrait Gallery holds his portraits of Kev Carmody, Archie Roach, Neil Murray and Chad Morgan.

BORN 1950 Townsville, Australia

STUDIES
1972-75 Queensland College of Art, Brisbane

1976-80 Jewellery Apprenticeship, Brisbane

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015 Life is No Way To Treat An Animal. Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery. Sydney, NSW.
2014 The Elephant in the Room. Woolloongabba Art Gallery. Brisbane. QLD.
2013 Landscape and the Moon. Trevor Victor Harvey Gallery. Sydney, NSW.
2012 From Glasshouse to Cooktown. Woolloongabba Art Gallery. Brisbane, QLD.
2010 Twenty Two over Sixty. Arts Park Australia, Mt. Mellum, QLD.
2009 New Works (Peter Hudson) Neo Gallery. Brisbane, QLD.
2007 Peter Hudson Paintings. Neo Gallery. Brisbane, QLD.
2006 Ownership, 40th Anniversary of the Wave Hill Walk Off. N.T. Caloundra Region Gallery, QLD.
2005 Peter Hudson, Recent Works. Neo Gallery. Brisbane, QLD.
2002 Peter Hudson Paintings/ Drawings. Lasting Impressions Gallery. Kenilworth, QLD.
2001 New Works (Peter Hudson) ASN Gallery. Sydney, NSW.
2000 On His Selection (Inaugural Exhibition) Caloundra Regional Gallery, QLD.
1997 Artist in Residence Exhibition. (Jewellery) Mulgara Gallery. Uluru, N.T.
1995 Artist in Residence Exhibition. (Jewellery) Mulgara Gallery. Uluru, N.T.
1992 Peter Hudson Paintings and Drawings. Impact Art Gallery. Maleny, QLD.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2015 East Coast Encounter. Port Macquarie Hastings Regional Gallery. NSW. Gold Coast City Gallery. QLD. Caloundra Regional Gallery. QLD.
2015 Dog Show. Woolloongabba Art Gallery. Brisbane, QLD.
2015 Tattersalls Art Prize. Brisbane, QLD.
2014 Tattersalls Art Prize. Brisbane, QLD.
2014 Drawn In. Woolloongabba Art Gallery. Brisbane, QLD.
2014 East Coast Encounter. National Maritime Museum. Sydney, NSW.
2013 Paul Kelly and the Portraits. National Portrait Gallery. Canberra, ACT.
2011 Landmarks, Impressionsof the Glasshouse Mountains. Caboolture Regional Gallery, QLD.
2011 Tattersalls Art Prize. Brisbane, QLD.
2011 New Faces, New Stories. National Portrait Gallery. Canberra, ACT.
2010 Tattersalls Art Prize, Brisbane, QLD.
2009 Sunshine Coast Art Prize. (winner) Caloundra Regional Gallery. QLD.
2008 Sunshine Coast Art Prize. (finalist) Caloundra Regional Gallery. QLD.
2007 Sunshine Coast Art Prize. (finalist) Caloundra Regional Gallery. QLD.
2007 Archibald Prize (finalist) Art Gallery of NSW.
2006 Sunshine Coast Art Prize. (finalist) Caloundra Regional Gallery. QLD.
2004 Images of the Glasshouse Mountains. Caloundra Regional Gallery. QLD.
2001 Tattersalls Art Prize. Brisbane, QLD.
1999 Cintra Gallery Brisbane, QLD.
1996 Direct Sun. Noosa Regional Gallery. QLD.

COLLECTIONS
National Portrait Gallery. Canberra, ACT.
National Maritime Museum. Sydney, NSW.
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory. Darwin, NT.
Warrnambool Art Gallery. Warrnambool, VIC.
Queensland Teachers’ Union Collection (G. A. Daughtrey Art Bequest) Brisbane, QLD.
Parliament House Queensland. Brisbane, QLD.
Moreton Bay Regional Council Collection. QLD.
Sunshine Coast Regional Council Collection. QLD.
University of the Sunshine Coast. QLD.
Ken Hinds Cultural Collection.

AWARDS
1978 Jewellery Award. Kangaroo Point College of TAFE. Brisbane QLD.
1997 Caloundra Arts Festival. Drawing/Mixed Media .(winner)
1998 Maleny Art Award. (winner open Award)
1999 Maleny Art Award. (winner Painting Award)
2001 Caloundra Art Festival. (winner open Award)
2005 West Pac/Mt. Olivert ‘Reflections of Life’ Art Prize. (winner)
2008 Mayor’s Prize. Kenilworth. QLD. (winner)
2009 Sunshine Coast Art Prize. QLD. (winner)

View available works

About Harvey Galleries

Harvey Galleries was founded by the Harvey family in 1994 with an eye to establish a dynamic and inclusive contemporary art space on the North Shore of Sydney. For almost three decades we have expanded our reach to over three gallery locations and an ever expanding stable of the best artists Australia has to offer.

Keep in touch

Subscribe to receive the latest news and upcoming exhibitions

Harvey Galleries acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands upon which our galleries stand. The Guringai people (Seaforth), the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation (Sydney), and the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation (Melbourne).

We pay our respect to Elders past and present.

Browse By

Ken Done ‘Studio to the Reef – Recent Works’ Exhibition 2024