Peter Webb (artist)
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Peter Webb is an Australian artist who has built a long-standing reputation as a singular and psychologically insightful painter. A native of Geelong, Victoria, Peter graduated from the Gordon Institute of Technology with a degree in Art, and had his first gallery showing in 1972 while still in school. In 1981 he was awarded the prestigious Alliance Française Art Fellowship and spent six months in Paris painting and studying art.
In 1984, through his connections with contemporary Australian artist Simon Buttonshaw, he began working with the Quiksilver International art department, and found a very exciting application of his artistic talent. While pursuing his fine art expressions, Webb supported his career by contributing to the Quiksilver design group headed by Buttonshaw, where he has designed hundreds of pieces of artwork used by the company during his 22-year association.
Working in Torquay, with owner Alan Green, Peter was able to practice his craft and was afforded the opportunity to travel around the world visiting the best galleries and absorbing the various local cultures, music, religions and lifestyles. This experience is reflected in both his graphic work for Quiksilver and his often-controversial canvases for the Powell Street Gallery in Melbourne, where he has exhibited for years.
Eventually his good friend Simon Buttonshaw left the ranks of Quiksilver, and Peter was promoted to Art Director at Quiksilver in Australia. He has remained in that position to the present, while continuing to develop and explore the boundaries of his artistic expression. As one of the better-known artists working in the Southern Hemisphere, his canvases were at one point compared to the obscure French art group called Bato/Bateau, whose work like his, contain images both surrealistic and simplistic; primitive and highly erotic.
Webb's art has been exhibited in Sydney, Biarritz, Tokyo, Melbourne, and Laguna Beach. His style, which utilizes photo-realism, graphic novel influences, and neo-expressionism, as well as a primary Fauvist color palette, has been described as shocking, vibrant, and sexually provocative.
