A rich past of decorative arts and architecture in the historical city of Lahore contrasts with conservative tribalism in frontier city Quetta, close to Afghanistan. A child, perfecting English as a second language alongside carpet weaving, learns of bountiful opportunities in the privileged ends of the earth where another child, achieving record Nintendo scores alongside casual education, hears of plentiful statistics expected of his socio-economic background. Towering Scottish multis, poised for ‘regeneration’, preserve retro tiles and wallpapers that echo ornate halls and cornices of palatial Spanish 'Mezquitas' conserved through restoration, now popular tourist destinations.
Links between personal recollections such as these provide subject matter that Peter’s work refers to and expands upon. Typical boyhood dreams bound up in the heroes of comic books and adventure literature are bridged with explorations of pattern and ornament found both in architectural/interior design and religious iconography. These come into play in the portrayal of people, often those around him or linked through the present or past, in scenes merged from both imagined and real imagery.
A habit of reusing found or gathered materials has been a process revisited at different stages throughout Peter’s art practice. These objects bring their own life and history to the work and form relationships first between image and object, then object and viewer. The object's original function as part of the daily living of an individual, community or wider society harbours a level of familiarity that allows a narrative, already present, to become involved in the work's new identity.
Peter graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee in 2008 and has lived there since, working as a freelance artist. He has exhibited mainly in Dundee but also in group shows throughout Scotland and also in Germany, Spain and Hungary and worked in community projects in varying capacities in Dundee, USA and Pakistan.