Peter Rive

TRANSLATIONS

T u e s d a y 2 4 S e p t e m b e r – S a t u r d a y 2 6 O c t o b e r, 2 0 2 4

Translations is a selection of paintings from 2017-2024, sourced from private collections between Tokyo and Auckland. Drawing on lived experiences and influences between East and West, Peter Rive has always used a diverse range of materials and techniques in his work; traditional and industrial paints, digital media and print. A central theme in his work has been an exploration of the painted mark or brushstroke, inspired by the rich Japanese tradition and also by the dynamic history of European painting. Painting in its purest form is an exploration of seeing. Rive approaches making art in a way that challenges the traditional order and process of what a painting is, and how it is made. Surfaces, marks and textures of material are at times re-presented and expanded through print, shifting across new canvases, mediums and layers of time. Each of these works is in itself, a translation.

This exhibition interrogates painting as form, exploring the moment of it’s application and challenging boundaries of scale, material and idea - how a painting is created, seen and experienced. After growing up in Waitakere on Auckland’s West coast, Peter Rive moved with his family and spent his formative teenage years and early twenties living on the North Shore. It was from here, he caught the ferry to the city to attend the Elam School of Fine Arts, and graduated with a BFA in 2001. He has exhibited artwork in New York, Tokyo and Auckland and worked on projects and collaborations with boutique fashion labels, product design and large stage productions. He has been selected as finalist in multiple national art awards, including the Parkin Prize, BMW Emerging Artist Award and the National Painting and Printmaking Award, and has work in private art collections internationally. He currently lives and works from his studio in western Tokyo.