artist printmaker
Peter Town is a born storyteller, gifted with an ability to translate both everyday quirks and deeper philosophical musing through his work. Often using strong lines, striking colours and symbolism in his pictures, Town has built a vibrant portfolio.
Born in Bethnal Green, he grew up in Liverpool and was later educated at Bath Academy of Art and the Royal College of Art. Taking advantage of his ability to communicate ideas visually, he went on to enjoy a successful career as a designer while he continued to paint and develop his artistic style through drawing, painting, photography, and printmaking.
While many of Town’s paintings use strong shapes and primary colours, such as the Stairscapes series, others are quieter and more contemplative, representing a more tranquil inner space.
His Abstracts series features works where the narrative is more ambiguous but ever-present. He sees landscapes, interior spaces and natural forms as abstract shapes and colours, transcribing these in his unique style onto paper and canvas.
#structuralcurves – noble grandeur
However, arches are more commonly used to support structures, roofs, railways and roads – useful and utilitarian structures. The arches in my paintings incorporate the qualities of both aggrandisement and physical structural support, with a little something left to the imagination.
#darkhavens – silent and serene
Valleys are often fertile places, the most sought-after areas for cultivation and settlement. We think of them as havens, lush and green, but they can also be dark, damp places permanently in shadow, rarely touched by light, or they can be ravines in the desert baked by the sun.
The valleys in my paintings are sometimes hot, sometimes cold, but always silent and serene.
#elevatedplains – distant horizons
Plateaus are elevated places, strongholds, but they can also represent the limits of performance or ambition. Physically, they can appear as safe places to be, where one can see what is both above and below, but they demand a decision when one leaves them – which way to go next.
The idea of the plateau, with the dilemma faced by the ‘occupant’, inspired me to create the abstract paintings in this series.
#connectinginterlocking – leading to other places
A felled log across a stream can provide a temporary bridge, while a feat of engineering in the form of a suspension bridge can make a bold statement of welcome across a dramatic ravine. Bridges connect people; they can lead to other places or be a destination in themselves, but most importantly, they must be securely anchored at each end.
I find that these anchored pillars create a tension at opposite ends of the span, and this tension forms the basis of my series of abstracts.
#timeandtide – metamorphosis
Although now cold, some craggy mountain structures were formed by volcanic action and were born from deep in the earth as white-hot lava flowed to the surface. Worn down thousands of years later into smaller rounded shapes by icy glaciers, the mount that remains is a pleasingly shaped structure – a mere shadow of its former self, yet still resisting its ultimate fate.
Mounts are the inspiration for an abstract series which suggests birth, metamorphosis, and present state.
#reflectionandrefraction – mirrored reality
It is difficult to pass a plate glass window without glancing at our own reflection, yet the reflection is not a true likeness but a mirror image. Windows often pick up reflections from surrounding windows, opening up the possibility of a ‘hall of mirrors’ effect.
I have taken the abstracted reflections from windows as a starting point and incorporated them into a series of paintings.
