Through a process of social actions grounded in the analogue and the hand-made, Peter Driver addresses his concerns for people and planet. Whether presenting his psychogeographic experiences of durational walks and contested sites, or negotiating the ambiguities of text and interpretation, he confronts viewers with work which can be both a material assertion and a tentative search for understanding. Driver operates in the tradition of the Fool and Mischief-Maker, seeking the transformative in the apparently futile and trite. There is a sense of gift and generosity in the work; that he is journeying and working for others, for ‘us’.
Through a process of social actions grounded in the analogue and the hand-made, Peter Driver addresses his concerns for people and planet. Whether presenting his psychogeographic experiences of durational walks and contested sites, or negotiating the ambiguities of text and interpretation, he confronts viewers with work which can be both a material assertion and a tentative search for understanding. Driver operates in the tradition of the Fool and Mischief-Maker, seeking the transformative in the apparently futile and trite. There is a sense of gift and generosity in the work; that he is journeying and working for others, for ‘us’.
Even when the text is a surreptitious punch on the nose, it is delivered with love. The work comes from a love of humanity coupled with a tendency to dissent; both vestiges of a lost faith. His commitment to reaching non-exclusive audiences might find him in the street, handing out free woodcut prints to passers-by, or seeking public venues for his projects, such as K6 Gallery in two decommissioned phoneboxes.
As a curator, Driver achieves his objectives by making opportunities for others, particularly for young and emerging artists.
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PETER DRIVER CV
EDUCATION:
MA Fine Art, 2014-15: Winchester School of Art
BA (Hons) Fine Art, 2011-14: Winchester School of Art
Foundation in Art and Design, 1981-82: Cambridge School of Art
SOLO/DUO EXHIBITIONS/PROJECTS:
2018 A Walk For Stanley - solo walking project, Instagram #aWalkForStanley
2017 Imagined Futures - K6 Gallery, Southampton
2017 For Such a Time as This - Brock Keep, Reading
2016 A Gaol Ballad and Other Assorted Love Songs - (with Amy-Rose Holland), Brock Keep, Reading
2016 WordUp! - (with Robert Fitzmaurice), multiple venues across Reading and online.
2015 ecologies of optimism and dissent, Jam Factory, Oxford
2014 I'm glad you're alive! - (with Lydia Heath), Brock Keep, Reading
2013 Peter Driver: Woodcuts - Winchester Discovery Centre
PUBLICATIONS
A Walk For Stanley, 2019, (published by Peculiarity Press) https://peculiaritypress.com/awalkforstanley
CURATION
Beyond otherness, 2021 details coming soon
Fire & Water, 2016 OHOS, Reading
Accretion (with Kirsty Smith and Nicky Bell), 2015, Brightbyte Studio, Southampton
Print as a Verb (with Chris Mercier), 2015, OHOS, Reading
Desire Lines, 2015, OHOS, Reading
Recent History (with Elly Langlois), 2014, Brooks Centre, Winchester
GROUP EXHIBITIONS/PROJECTS:
2020
Staurated Space, Sandham Memorial Chapel
2019
'silence | absence' - Broad Street Mall, Reading (curated by Richard Bentley)
'Let Us Dissent' - SPUDworks, Sway (CAS associate artists' group show)
'The Arborealists and Guests - The Art of Trees'', Turbine House, Reading
'Triangulations', Brock Keep, Reading (with Sarah Britten-Jones and Robert Fitzmaurice)
'In The Round', Chapel Arts, Andover (CAS associate artists' group show)
2018
Block_Chain>The Power of Two - online residency at
block-chain.chapelartsstudios.co.uk (Block_1)
2017
'ChaosContrastsChange', Brock Keep, Reading (studio group show curated by Janet Curley Cannon)
'Footprints', Winchester School of Art, (group show curated by Tessa Atton for the University of Southampton Festival of Doctoral Research)
2015
'10Days Winchester: CHALK', Winchester Gallery, Winchester
'The Laboratory of Dissent', Winchester Gallery, Winchester
'Meeting Point', Crypt Gallery, London (Blue Curry, Mia Taylor, Ian Dawson, Nicola Thomas, Stephen Cooper, Amy-Rose Holland, Kirsty Smith, et al.)
2014
Platform Graduate Award 2014, (selected show) Aspex Gallery Portsmouth
Someone & Something, Aspex Gallery Portsmouth
'Tabula Rasa' - The Bargehouse, London
Insight 2014, New Greenham Arts, Newbury
Transmediale Festival, Berlin (group installation)
2013
'Raison D'etre' - Mottisfont National Trust, Hants
Outlook Changeable - OHOS group exhibition, Brock Keep, Reading
Searching, always - arjeea21 group exhibition, Gallery 49, Bracknell
2012
Echo - arjeea21 group exhibition, Brock Keep, Reading
TEACHING/TUTORING
Winchester School of Art - Teaching Fellow in Fine Art
Open Hand OpenSpace, Reading - Printmaking tutor
COLLABORATIVE PERFORMANCES:
Andover March for Optimism, Andover Town Centre, 2015
'Encounters, Andover': production and free distribution of 200 woodcut prints inspired by Encounters Shop, Andover High Street, 2014
'March for Optimism', Winchester City Centre, 2014
Art&Ride, 24 hour project as part of 10Days, Winchester bus routes, 2013 (with Public Works)
Space for Peace, Winchester Cathedral 2013, (curated by Kimvi Nguyen)
RESIDENCIES
Block_Chain>The Power of Two, online residency at block-chain.chapelartsstudios.co.uk, 2018
Basing House archaeological dig, Hampshire: artist in residence, July-August 2013
AWARDS
Arts Council for England grant for the arts to develop March for Optimism, Andover, 2015 (as part of Chapel Arts Studios pop-up project 'The Bureau of Exchange')
