Graham Peacock

Graham Peacock

Graham Peacock - Biography

Graham Peacock (b. 1945) studied at Goldsmiths School of Art in the University of London (1962-66) and soon developed an interest in the abstract art of Mondrian and Malevich, and then Rothko and Noland. In 1969 he moved to Edmonton and began teaching at the University of Alberta. Peacock has been a significant figure on both the Edmonton and International art scene since then. Over the decades he has developed unique ways of drawing with paint; manipulated the forms of his canvases; formulated his own paint mediums; spear-headed the formation of important art groups and assisted in fostering a climate favorable to abstraction in Edmonton. Through his teaching at the University of Alberta he has also shaped the artistic visions of countless students.

In 1973 Peacock made personal contact with a number of important New York artists through sculptor Michael Steiner's artists' workshop at the Edmonton Art Gallery. Peacock was drawn to such Modernists as Jules Olitski and Lawrence Poons for their freedom from conventional techniques, and soon began applying paint with rollers and then brooms. He was a member of the art group founded by Dr. Kenworth Moffett (1934-2016) known as the New New Painters.

In 1981 Peacock developed a highly inventive and personal way of painting. Working with thirty-foot lengths of canvas on the floor, he would pour one layer of paint over another, not-quite-cured layer and allow the top layer to shrink, separate and craze as it dried. He would then select portions to be stretched up in irregular shapes as individual paintings. Peacock had developed his own voice as a "process abstractionist" of the "fluid school" associated with Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis.

From 1969, Peacock was a Professor of Fine Art at and then also the Coordinator of the Painting program at the Department of Art and Design, University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He has been a retired professor emeritus of the university since 2008. In 1995 Peacock was given a solo museum exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia and in 2005 Peacock's work was the subject of a retrospective at the Art Gallery of Alberta and an accompanying catalogue was published.

Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018 Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, 'Fields I Figure', 2012 to 2018
2017/2018 TREX, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Travelling Exhibition Program, Graham Peacock 'Collage' regional touring exhibition.
2016 Peter Robertson Gallery, Edmonton, ''Topographies' - Graham Peacock at 70', February 11 - March 01, 2016
2014 Gallery Gevik, 'Selected Collages and Paintings' Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2012 The University of Calgary, ‘The India Suite’, painted canvas collages, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
2008 Gallery One, ‘Graham Peacock, Highlights, 1982 -2006’, a survey exhibition, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2005 Art Gallery of Alberta, 'Graham Peacock at 60 - A Retrospective Exhibition 1980 to 2005' (formerly The Edmonton Art Gallery), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
2003 - 2004 The New New Painting Museum, Toronto, 'New New Illusionism, paintings, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (CATALOG)
2002 Vanderleelie Gallery, 'Paris Suite Collages' Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
1996 The Edmonton Art Gallery, Project Room, ‘Reflective and Refractive Works in Glass,’ Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
1995 The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, ‘Circularity, the large paintings,’ Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Galerie Dambier Masset, 1982-95 Survey' Paintings, Paris, France
1994 The Edmonton Art Gallery, ‘Studio Watch’ recent paintings, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. University of Alberta, Fine Arts Building Gallery, 'Colour and Dimension' Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (CATALOG)
1989 Virginia Christopher Galleries, paintings, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
1987 The Edmonton Art Gallery, '‘Paint Process and Spirit’ large paintings, 1982-87 Retrospective, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (CATALOG)
1986 Waddington Shiell Galleries, paintings, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1983/84 Martin Gerard Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1981/82 Hett Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1979 Glenmore Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1977 The Edmonton Art Gallery, ‘Fans and Pillars,’ Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
1976 Latitude 53 Gallery, ‘Screens,’ Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (CATALOG)
1975 Woltjen Udell Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
1973/74 Atlantic Provinces Art Circuit, Touring Exhibition (BROCHURE)
1972 The Edmonton Art Gallery, 'Striations', Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (CATALOG) Alberta College Art Gallery, Calgary, Alberta, Canada (CATALOG)
1971 Memorial University, ‘Atlantic Provinces Art Circuit Touring Exhibition,’ St. John’s, Newfoundland. (PAMPHLET)
1969 The British School, 'Grid Paintings' Rome, Italy

Selected Public Collections:
Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredricton, New Brunswick, Canada.
Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Government of Canada, ‘Canadiana Fund’, Ottawa, Canada.
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
National Gallery of Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
Canadian Embassy, Warsaw, Poland.
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
University College of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Johannesburg Art Foundation, South Africa.
Foundation for Art, Government of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Embassy of Japan, Warsaw, Poland.
Museum of Modern Art, Vienna, Foundation Ludwig, Wein, Austria.
Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A.
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, ‘Hines Collection’, Boston, U.S.A.
University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada.
Canadian Federal Affairs, Tokyo, Japan.
Government of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Edmonton Court House, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
British Embassy, Rome, Italy.
Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Leeds Education Authority, Leeds, Yorkshire, England.
Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada.
Canada Council, Art Bank, Ottawa, Canada.
Hill Trust Fund Collection, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada.
Newport Art Gallery, Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales.
Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Alberta Art Foundation, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Artist Specialization: "Process Abstraction," consisting of very bright colour - often fluorescent - and very thick, plastic paint. Graham Peacock: "I had been very moved by the work of Poons, Pollock and Olitski, and I wanted to organize the colour but let the drawing stay loose. But the colour would always become muted by mixing. One of the most fundamental changes occurred in 1981 when I started to pour paint in big puddles on "screen" fields of thinly broomed paint. I got this fissuring - "crazing" -occurring in the centre of the deep poured area. Noticing this sort of separation in the layers of paint as they dried, made me think about putting down the colours one on top of the other instead of laying them out side by side. So really in a way I was approaching painting like I did in the early seventies, but now I was stacking the paint layers, and as the drying paint skinned and separated, I was able to bring one colour through the other. This allowed me the freedom with paint and range of colour I wanted. That was in 1982, and I'm still basically using this method."