Peter Doig

Infobox Artist
name = Peter Doig


caption =
birthdate = 1959
location = Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
deathdate =
deathplace =
nationality = Scottish British
field = Painting
training = Wimbledon, St Martin's, Chelsea schools of art
movement =
works =
patrons =
awards =

Peter Doig [Doig is pronounced "DOY-guh", IPA-en|ˈdɔɪ.ɡ.] (born 1959) is a Scottish painter. In 2008, a major retrospective of his work (entitled "Peter Doig") was held at Tate Britain (February-May) and the Paris Museum of Modern Art (June-September). His paintings are among Europe's most expensive. [ [http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1185372.0.national_galleries_eyes_up_doig_after_5_7m_sale.php "National Galleries eyes up Doig after £5.7m sale"] , "Sunday Herald", 11 February, 2007]

Biography

Peter Doig was born in Edinburgh, and in 1962 moved with his family to Trinidad, where his father worked with a shipping and trading company, and then in 1966 to Canada. He went to London in 1979 to study art at the Wimbledon School of Art, St Martin's School of Art (where he became friends with Billy Childish) and later the Chelsea School of Art, where he received an MA.

In 1993 he won the first prize at the John Moores exhibition with his painting "Blotter". This brought public recognition, cemented in 1994, when he was nominated for the Turner Prize. In 1999 he selected EASTinternational with Roy Arden. From 1995 to 2000 he was a trustee of the Tate Gallery.

In 2002, Doig moved back to Trinidad, where he set up a studio at the Caribbean Contemporary Arts centre near Port of Spain, and also became professor at the fine arts academy in Duesseldorf, Germany.

Work

Many of Doig's pictures are landscapes, with a number harking back to the snowy scenes of his childhood in Canada. Doig’s landscapes are splendidly layered formally and conceptually, and draw on assorted artists from art history, including Edvard Munch and Claude Monet to Friedrich and Klimt. His works are frequently based on found photographs (and sometimes on his own), but are not painted in a photorealist style, Doig instead using the photographs simply for reference. Peter Doig’s work captures moments of tranquillity, which contrast with uneasy oneiric elements. He uses unusual colour combinations and depicts scenes from unexpected angles, all contributing to give his work a magic realist feel. In "The Architect’s Home in the Ravine" the thick undergrowth partly obscures the house. It is the play of twig-like shapes and range of colours overlapping the building which one notices. His scenes that involve lakes with canoes, cabins tucked away in the woods, and skiers dotting mountain scenery are his most well-known subjects and ones he tends to repeat. [citation | title= Artist Dossier: Peter Doig | author=Meredith Mendelsohn | publisher=ARTINFO | year=2008 | date= February 20, 2008 | url=http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/26612/artist-dossier-peter-doig/ | accessdate=2008-04-23 ]

In 2003, Doig started a weekly film club called StudioFilmClub in his studio together with Trinidadian artist Che Lovelace.

In 2005 he was one of the artists exhibited in part 1 of "The Triumph of Painting" at the Saatchi Gallery in London.

In 2008, a major retrospective of his work (entitled "Peter Doig") was held at Tate Britain (February-May) and the Paris Museum of Modern Art (June-September). Doig paintings are among Europe's most expensive. [ [http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1185372.0.national_galleries_eyes_up_doig_after_5_7m_sale.php "National Galleries eyes up Doig after £5.7m sale"] , "Sunday Herald", 11 February, 2007]

Notes and references

Literature

* Hans-Jürgen Tast (Hrsg.) „As I Was Moving. Kunst und Leben“ (Schellerten/Germany 2004) (z.m.a. K.) ISBN 3-88842-026-1;

External links

* [http://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/16,biog/ Victoria Miro Gallery: Peter Doig]
* [http://www.michaelwerner.com/artist_6_main_1.htm Michael Werner Gallery: Peter Doig]
* [http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/peter_doig.htm Saatchi Gallery: Peter Doig]
* [http://www.triste-le-roi.blogspot.com/sfc.html StudioFilmClub essay]
* [http://www.magical-secrets.com/artists/doig Crown Point Press: Peter Doig]
* [http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/peterdoig/ Tate Britain: Peter Doig retrospective (2008)]
*Review of [http://artreview.wordpress.com/2008/04/19/peter-doig/ Peter Doig exhibition at Tate Britain, 2008]
* [http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/weird_places_strange_folk/ 1992 monograph from "Frieze"]
* John-Paul Stonard (2008), [http://artforum.com.cn/angle/538 "Focus: Peter Doig"] , "Artforum", April 2008