Orange Regional Gallery is excited to present the first survey of Australian artist Peter Godwin. Working from his studio on the central coast of NSW, Godwin recalls places, images and objects into his evocative compositions. From a light-filled apartment in Paris, France, to the misty landscapes of the Li River, China or a nocturne interior under a Hokusai moon; his works are full of objects and treasures that he has collected over time.

Whilst Godwin’s career spans over forty years, this survey marks its starting point from a major turning point in the artist’s practice – when Godwin shifted from working with thick, gestural oil paintings to light washes of egg tempera. Tempera is a combination of pigment with egg yolk

or an oil emulsion. In contrast to oil paint, the fast drying, delicate medium allows the artist to construct a painting in light washes – painting, removing, and adding again.

As he explains, “One aspect of tempera, unlike oil painting is, you can paint an image and you can remove it. You only have to dampen the paint with a rag or spray with water and it scrapes clean off because the egg breaks down and takes the pigment with it.” This process of lightly adding and removing and scratching back into the paint became the basis for Godwin across his painting and printmaking. Here he could create works that shifted in light and space, the soft transparent layers, creating veils for us to look through.

Over the last 25 years, Godwin has distilled and refined his use of light, space and time to create atmospheric paintings and prints that push the potential of an image. Delving into the layers of Godwin’s practice we are invited to be immersed in the evocative worlds he has marked out for us to follow.

Please join us at the Gallery for the opening of ‘Peter Godwin | Space, Light & Time’, Friday 6 September at 6pm.