AO On Site: Peter Doig, New Paintings, Saturday, January 17th, 2009, on until March 14th, 2009 at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and Michael Werner Gallery, New York

Home » AO On Site: Peter Doig, New Paintings, Saturday, January 17th, 2009, on until March 14th, 2009 at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and Michael Werner Gallery, New York

AO On Site: Peter Doig, New Paintings, Saturday, January 17th, 2009, on until March 14th, 2009 at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise and Michael Werner Gallery, New York

January 19th, 2009

Opening night for New Paintings by Peter Doig at Gavin Brown’s Enterprise photos by Art Observed

New Paintings by Peter Doig, opened at Gavin Brown’s enterprise and Michael Werner Gallery on January 17th. Doig, a Scottish artist who grew up in Canada and Trinidad, where he currently lives, has not had a solo show in New York since 2002, when Michael Werner Gallery exhibited a survey of his works on paper. ‘New Paintings’ feature several works painted by Doig over the last two years in his studio in the Caribbean.

Man dressed as a bat (2008) by Peter Doig, via Gavin Brown’s enterprise

NEW PAINTINGS
January 17th to February 21st, 2009
Gavin Brown’s enterprise
620 Greenwich St
New York, NY
Open Tues – Sat, 10am to 6pm.

Exhibition page: New Paintings
Profile: Peter Doig at Saatchi Gallery

My life in art: How Peter Doig taught me to pay attention [Guardian UK]

Previously on ArtObserved:
Go See: Peter Doig Retrospective at the Tate Britain
Go See: Peter Doig Retrospective at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt

Doig’s work incorporates a number of influences–from pointillism and English landscape paintings to scenes from films, fiction or still photographs–that make his work both immediately accessible and formally innovative and complex. While not considered a part of the Young British Arts movement of artists that emerged in the early 1990s, Doig first began to make a name for himself at around the same time as YBA stalwarts such as Damien Hirst. After painting White Canoe, one of his more well known pieces, in 1990, he won the John Moores Foundation prize in 1993 and was nominated for the Turner Prize the following year. The artist set a personal record in 2007, when Sotheby’s sold White Canoe at auction for $11.5 million to a Russian collector–the price was also the record for a living European artist for a short time. Doig was also the subject of a major retrospective at the Tate Britain in 2008, which was also displayed at the Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris later that year, and is currently being shown at the Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, until January 9th.

A photograph of Peter Doig, via Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin

Much of the artist’s earlier works are inspired by or make reference to landscapes in Canada or England. Doig’s more recent work has a distinctly Caribbean focus and is inspired by his life on the island of Trinidad. While the paintings continue to incorporate influences and aesthetic elements of his previous work, he has stated that the more recent paintings have not been inspired by photographs or films as much as the landscape and culture of his new home. The pieces still retain a dream-like quality, that has often drawn comparisons between Doig’s work and magical realism, a literary genre that emerged in the Caribbean and Latin America in the late 20th century. Man dressed as a Bat is reminiscent of traditional Carnival costumes in Trinidad, harkening back to the aesthetics of ‘J’ouvert’ or the pre-dawn processions that mark the beginning of Carnival festivities. Blue Devil is also clearly inspired by J’ouvert, where festivalgoers are known to parade as devils and demons and paint their bodies white, blue and black while partying in the streets.

Other pieces depict landscapes or scenes from Trinidad. House of Pictures (Carrera) and Black Curtain (Toward Monkey Island) both portray fictitious views or panoramas of actual islands off the coast of Trinidad, while Pelican (Stag) and Red Boat (Imaginary Boys) are stylized representations of people enjoying what could be any one of the many waterfalls and mangroves, respectively, that are found on the island.

Man Dressed as a Bat (Embah) (2008) by Peter Doig, via Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin

Canoe Lake (1997-8) by Peter Doig, via Saatchi Gallery

Blue Devil (2004) by Peter Doig, via Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin

White Canoe (1990) by Peter Doig, via Saatchi Gallery

Concrete Cabin (1994) by Peter Doig, via Saatchi Gallery

Lapeyrouse Wall (2004) by Peter Doig, via Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin

Pelican (Stag) by Peter Doig (2003), via Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin

Black Curtain (Towards Monkey Island) (2004) by Peter Doig, via Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin

House of Pictures (Carrera) 2004 by Peter Doig, via Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin

Red Boat (Imaginary Boys) (2004) by Peter Doig, via Contemporary Fine Arts Berlin