Born in 1947, Peter spent his first 10 years in the Mallee town of Karoonda approximately 120kms south-east of Adelaide, South Australia. His surroundings were vast landscape and this may explain his connection with wide-open spaces and the vibrant colours that nature presents.
For subject matter he makes regular artistic journeys to destinations in Australia and overseas, where he chooses locations that he can mindfully connect to. The cultural understanding, history and knowledge gained of each place clearly assists in his capturing the essence and feeling of the land in his paintings. His work has not been restricted to landscape for which he is clearly recognized but also over the years, he has produced many unique collections such as the ‘Icon for Travellers’ series.
At the age of 10, when he moved to Adelaide, he finished his schooling and began a career in graphic arts excelling and winning awards in the fields of Silk Screen Printing and Signwriting but his passion and the eventual demand for his paintings saw him become a full-time professional artist in 1996. He has now been painting for over 40 years, held over 70 Solo Exhibitions and participated in more than 200 group shows including in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, Dubai, New York, Los Angeles. A major group show was a South Australian Artists exhibition held at the prestigious Kubo-Kuxta Gallery in San Sebastian, Spain. He has also served two terms as Vice President of the Royal South Australian Society of Arts, given talks on his art and been a participant, advise, curator and judge of exhibitions in Australia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Japan.
His achievements in other areas of the arts are many, the following being just a few: In 1991 he organized and curated an exhibition held in Penang, Malaysia, of artwork of members from the Royal South Australian Society of Arts for the Adelaide/Georgetown Official Sister City, 25th Anniversary Celebration Visit with the Lord Mayor and Council Members of the City of Adelaide. One of his paintings was given as a gift to the City of Georgetown. In 2001 the Adelaide Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages chose Peter to be the first contemporary landscape artist to have two of his paintings reproduced for the Australian Commemorative Birth Certificates for the Year of the Outback. In 2005, Hollister Incorporated of Illinois U.S.A. chose one of Peter’s works to reproduce for their Christmas gift to their worldwide clients. Cairns City Council in Queensland, Australia, chose Peter’s paintings to give to two of their Sister Cities, one in 2005 to the City of Oyama in Japan as a commemorative gift for the signing of their Sister City Agreement and in 2006 one was given to the Mayor of Zhanjiang in Guangdong Province, China, for the Official Opening of the Australian designed “Friendship Gardens” in Zhanjiang.
Peter is also well-known to Film audiences as being commissioned by internationally acclaimed Australian Film Director, Rolf de Heer, to paint 14 large canvases which appear as static scenes in the Award-Winning film 'The Tracker'. (A main feature of the Adelaide Festival of Arts 2002 and the 51st Melbourne International Film Festival, also selected to participate in numerous International Film Festivals). The inclusion of original artwork in this way was a first for an Australian feature film and the process taken and images of these paintings are published in a Book and can be seen on a Documentary appearing on the DVD of the Film. Peter has also filmed and produced several documentaries on his work within some of the inspirational locations visited.
He is a confident, energetic artist whose use of dramatic colours for his vigorous interpretations capture the glowing earthy yellows and oranges of the land, the ephemeral purples, aqua and blues of the sky and lagoons and they reflect the uniqueness of the terrain and the changes of the day and seasons. They also reveal to us landscapes of harsh, yet breath-taking beauty, as he skilfully blends symbolic depictions of mountains, wetlands, vegetation and bird life in an endeavour to convey an awareness of the delicate balance of the environment.
Peter has gained many private and corporate collectors of his works within Australia and Internationally.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
73 Solo Exhibitions since 1978
2021 Wentworth Galleries, (Online Exhibition – due to COVID restrictions) Sydney, New South Wales
2020 ‘Visible Silence’ Mandoon Estate, Linton and Kay Galleries, Swan Valley, Western Australia
Solo exhibition, “Survey”, for SALA 2020, Dickson Wright Lawyers & Michael Lindblom Lawyers Goodwood, South Australia
2019 Art Images Gallery 70th Solo Exhibition, Norwood, South Australia
2018 Manyung Galleries, “Horizon”, Mt Eliza, Victoria
2017 Wentworth Galleries, “Under an Open Sky”, Sydney, New South Wales
2016 Art Images Gallery, Norwood, South Australia
2015 Bridgewater Mill Restaurant Gallery, Mt Barker, South Australia
2014 Wentworth Galleries, “A world without words”, Sydney, New South Wales
“A Moving Moment” for SALA 2014 in support of the Hutt St Centre for the Homeless, Toop and Toop Real Estate, The Abbey, Goodwood, South Australia
2013 The Prairie on O’Connell Café Gallery, “Collective” for SALA, North Adelaide, South Australia
2012 Linton and Kay Galleries, “When Memory Becomes Art”, Perth, Western Australia
2011 Portsea Art Gallery, Portsea, Victoria
Prairie Hotel, “Beyond Parachilna” Parachilna, South Australia
Karoonda Centenary Celebrations, District Council of Karoonda/East Murray Chambers, “Traveller in Landscape”, Karoonda, South Australia
Greenhill Galleries, “Traveller in Landscape”, North Adelaide, South Australia
2010 Waverley Homestead “Subconsciously Coad” SALA Exhibition, Willunga South Australia
Glenferrie Road Contemporary Art Gallery “Subconsciously Coad” Malvern, Victoria
2009 LK Galleries, “Ancient Landscapes”, Perth, Western Australia
2008 Prairie Hotel, “Ancient Landscapes”, Parachilna, South Australia
Framed, The Darwin Gallery, “Survey”, Darwin, Northern Territory
Gallery at the Wentworth, “Ancient Landscapes”, Sydney, New South Wales
2007 Greenhill Galleries, “Retrospective Works 1975 – 2005”, North Adelaide, South Australia
Reef & Rainforest Gallery, “New Works”, Cairns, Queensland
Monsoon Gallery, “Survey”, Broome, Western Australia
2006 Greenhill Galleries/Hilton Adelaide, Large Canvas Exhibition, Adelaide, South Australia
The New Paul Gullotti Galleries, Perth, Western Australia
2005 Monsoon Gallery, "Broome Diaries", Broome, Western Australia.
Greenhill Galleries, "Visions, Vistas and Volcanoes", North Adelaide, South Australia.
2004 Gallery at the Wentworth, "North by North West", Sydney, New South Wales.
Without Pier Gallery, "North by North West", Sandringham, Victoria.
Gullotti Galleries, "North by North West", Perth, Western Australia
2003 Qdos Gallery, Lorne, Victoria.
Mulgara Gallery, Ayers Rock Resort, Northern Territory.
Monsoon Gallery "Journeys from my sketchbooks" Broome, Western Australia.
Greenhill Galleries, "North by North West", North Adelaide, South Australia.
2002 Adelaide Festival of Arts 02, venue Adelaide Hilton Hotel, “The Tracker Paintings”, Adelaide, South Australia (in conjunction with Greenhill Galleries and Art Images Gallery)
Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, venue Her Majesty's Theatre, “Final Colour Studies for The Tracker”, Adelaide, South Australia.
Gadfly Gallery, “Images of an Ancient Land”, Dalkeith, Western Australia.
51st Melbourne International Film Festival, venue: Without Pier Gallery, “The Tracker Paintings”, Sandringham, Victoria.
During the National Release of the Film, venue: Gallery at the Wentworth, “The Tracker Paintings” Sydney, New South Wales.
2001 Karoonda Development Group, District Council of Karoonda East Murray Chambers, “Odyssey”, Karoonda, South Australia.
Gallery at the Wentworth, “Journeys”, Sydney, New South Wales.
Without Pier Gallery, “Journeys”, Sandringham, Victoria.
2000 Greenhill Galleries, “Odyssey”, North Adelaide, South Australia.
Monsoon Gallery, “Odyssey”, Cable Beach Inter-Continental Resort, Broome, Western Australia.
1999 Antipodes Gallery, “Gondwanaland Suite”, Sorrento, Victoria.
Without Pier Gallery, “Gondwanaland - Ancient Land Sites”, Sandringham, Victoria.
1998 Michael Commerford Gallery, “Spirits in Landscape”, Rushcutters Bay, New South Wales
1997 Greenhill Galleries, “Spirits in Landscape”, North Adelaide, South Australia.
1995 Greenhill Galleries, “Icons for a Traveller”, North Adelaide, South Australia.
Studio Star Gallery, “Icons for a Traveller”, Darwin, Northern Territory.
1994 The Barn Art Gallery, “Birds in Landscape”, McLaren Vale, South Australia.
1993 Elgin Gallery, “Variations in Landscape”, Carlton, Victoria.
1992 The Gallery Wall, “A walk in the Australian Landscape”, Edgecliff, New South Wales.
Reade Art Gallery, “Paintings from a Bali Sketchbook”, Eastwood, South Australia.
1991 Elgin Gallery, “New works - New Locations”, Carlton, Victoria.
Bridge Street Gallery, Complete Canvas Exhibition, Woollahra, New South Wales.
Greenhill Galleries, “Summer”, North Adelaide, South Australia.
1990 Casey Gallery, Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales.
Reade Art Gallery, “Australia’s Greatest Asset - Landscape”, Eastwood, South Australia.
Studio Star Gallery, Darwin, Northern Territory
1989 Elgin Gallery, “Australian Landscape - a New Perspective”, Carlton, Victoria.
Aptos Cruz, “Influences from Africa”, Stirling, South Australia.
1988 Reade Art Gallery, “Kurangh”, Eastwood, South Australia
The Barn Art Gallery, “My South Australia”, McLaren Vale, South Australia.
1987 Private Exhibition, “Coorong Sketchbook”, Tremayne's, Toorak, Victoria
Greenhill Galleries, North Adelaide, South Australia.
1986 Private Exhibition, “River Series III”, South Yarra, Victoria.
The Barn Art Gallery, “Variations of the River”, McLaren Vale, South Australia.
1985 Private Exhibition, “River Series”, Highgate Hill, Toorak, Victoria.
Le Paris Restaurant Gallery, “River Series II”, North Adelaide, South Australia.
1978 Coach House Gallery, Festival of Arts Exhibition, Tea Tree Gully, South Australia
PUBLISHED AND/OR FEATURED IN THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATIONS:
2021 Coast Lines Magazine, April 2021
2019 SA Life Magazine October 2019 for 70th Solo Exhibition
Artwork featured on the Cover of the New South Wales Legal Aid 2020 Diary
2018 Artwork featured on the Cover of the New South Wales Legal Aid 2019 Diary Mornington Peninsula Magazine, Victoria, July 2018
2017 Artwork featured on the Cover of the New South Wales Legal Aid 2018 Diary
Unbridling the Western Auteur, Dr Emma Hamilton, The University of Newcastle, Australia
2016 Artwork featured on the Cover of the New South Wales Legal Aid 2017 Diary
SA Life Magazine November 2016
Studies in Australasian Cinema or Film History for The University of Sydney, by Dr Marita Bullock. Australia
Arts & Medicine Section of the Cardiovascular Diagnosis and Therapy Magazine, Ohio, U.S.A. http://cdt.amegroups.com/article/view11705/15033
2015 Artwork featured on the Cover of the New South Wales Legal Aid 2016 Diary
2014 International Westerns – Re-Locating the Frontier, Miller & Van Riper - U.S.A.
Artwork featured on the Cover of the New South Wales Legal Aid 2015 Diary
2013 Artwork featured on the Cover of the New South Wales Legal Aid 2014 Diary
2012 Artwork featured on the Cover of the New South Wales Legal Aid 2013 Diary
2011 Artwork featured on the Cover of the New South Wales Legal Aid 2012 Diary
2010 Boab Bulletin – No. 100 October 2010 - Landscape Art and the Kimberley – Kimberley Society Inc.
Intangibles in Terra Australia, Sala Kubo-Kuxta Spain
Skywest Inflight Magazine OUTthere, May, Western Australia/Northern Territory
2007 The Advertiser Review, May 5, South Australia
2006 YouYu Adelaide Japanese lifestyle magazine no. 28 South Australia/Japan
Destinations Australia - Queensland
2003 Selected Contemporary Artists of Australia, Michael Berry - Victoria
2002 Peter Coad, Paintings and Drawings for the Film, The Tracker - South Australia
2000 International Artist Feb/March - New South Wales
1997 Camapa No. 3 Magazine - Russia
1991 Australian Artist Magazine, October - Sydney
1990 Craft-Arts Magazine, Oct/Dec - Sydney
Artists and Galleries of Australia - Max Germein - Volumes 1 & 2, Third Edition
Craftsman press, Sydney, Page 126