PETER HAWKSBY

It is a great pleasure to present this exhibition of thirty two paintings by Peter Hawksby.
The works are all painted in oil on board in interlocking rectangular blocks of delicious colour. They appear at first sight to be purely abstract but something about the structure of the blocks, the direction of the brushwork and the translucence of the many layers of paint make the viewer unable to resist trying to make something out. The artist kindly supplies each short series with a title that invites the viewer in: Lake, Mirror, Repose, Vista, Green Room, Dialogue, Interior after B, Window. Acknowledged influences, many and varied, include Scully, Hodgkin, Bonnard and Rembrandt but his work is undeniably and distinctively his own.

'For me, the act of painting has parallels with the game of chess, in the choice to restrict oneself to a rectangle, within which there are limited choices, all of which have been explored before... and yet every game is unique. This is not to say that I regard painting as a game because the decisions made are indicative of both temperament and skill. The final object stands as a record of what you are. You can never win but neither can you lose.' PH

Peter Hawksby, born in 1948, studied at Middlesbrough Art College (1966-67), Hull College of Art (1967-70), Slade School of Art (1970-72). After a year working in a framing studio, he taught art and photography part-time at secondary and sixth form level (1973-2010) and for all those years maintained his practice in various warehouse studios in London taking part in many open studio events. Exhibitions included the Albemarle Gallery, London, The New Cut in Halesworth, and since moving to Cambridge in 2011, the AKA Contemporary Gallery, Espresso Library Gallery and Thrive Café Gallery, all in Cambridge.