Peter Hackett
The Viewer
Oil on Canvas
1035 x 1650 mm
Sold
“The Viewer revisits concepts first explored in my Honeymooners’ Bed series, a body of work reflecting the heightened perception and attentiveness associated with newlyweds encountering the world. It considers the act of looking itself; the subject observes the onlooker just as the onlooker observes the subject, establishing a reciprocal dynamic in which attention is never fixed and the boundaries between viewer and viewed become porous.
A field of blooms unfolds as a constructed perceptual space, a contained environment in which engagement completes the work. Its structure and composition articulate a concern with balance and harmony, reflecting the universe’s intrinsic equilibrium and the idea that beauty exists everywhere but is easily missed when attention is elsewhere. By emphasising perception over representation, the work invites sustained attention to the.” – Peter Hackett
Artist Bio
Working in thick impasto oils, contemporary painter Peter Hackett creates immersive landscapes, presenting to the viewer’s eye his sublime vision of nature’s incomparable beauty.
The sculptural quality of Hackett’s diverse and vibrant palette, applied instinctively with paint-laden brushes and palette knives, unveils the alluring sense that his work is as much about the material as it is about the subject. Paired with the large scale of the works, an atmosphere of immediacy and intimacy is created, allowing us to lose ourselves further within the joyful, visceral qualities of these intoxicating paintings. Hackett says, “I am not just using oil paint to describe a meadow; I am using a meadow to describe oil paint.”