Mike Petre Exhibitions

Mike Petre

New Works

24 Feb - 21 Mar 2009

Exhibition Works

Field Study 120
Field Study 120 (2009)
Field Study 113
Field Study 113 (2009)
Field Study 114
Field Study 114 (2009)
Field Study 123
Field Study 123 (2009)
Field Study 115
Field Study 115 (2009)
Field Study 118
Field Study 118 (2009)
Field Study 121
Field Study 121 (2009)
Field Study 117
Field Study 117 (2009)
Field Study 112
Field Study 112 (2009)
Field Study 122
Field Study 122 (2009)
Field Study 116
Field Study 116 (2009)
Field Study 108
Field Study 108 (2009)

Exhibition Text

Mike Petre’s exhibition New Works explores themes and concepts surrounding rural environments within New Zealand. His Field Study series which has attained an iconic status continues to focus on the objectification of animals through farming. The repetition and black and white rendering of the subject matter reflects themes of production and commodity.

To experience the works installed in the gallery space is to be immersed in a typical but somewhat unsettling landscape where the viewer is asked to confront what stands before them. “Taking a pragmatic rather than romantic approach, the animals have become objects of intense scrutiny as opposed to the traditional ‘prop’ for European landscape.” (1)

Petre displays command, confidence and skill in his painting techniques. This series exhibits a number of works that demonstrate a return to an impasto painting technique; where oil paint is applied and manipulated on the canvas surface with a palette knife. In these works the herd appear to merge into each other as well as their background, literally becoming part of the landscape.

Although his ink and oil images appear to be simple, his expressive painting marks are methodically built up through a systematic painting process. The animals appear to emerge from the stark white canvas. The dripping ink and blackness of the oil paint “give a sense of wetness of living skin, a challenging immediacy.” (2)

1. Mike Petre, Artist Statement, July 2004.
2. Helen Watson White, “Field Work,” Study Star Times, 16 June, 2002.