Peter Cooley

Peter Cooley (born 1956) is an Australian visual artist working in painting and ceramic sculpture. Initially recognised as a painter during the 1980s and 1990s, he later focused primarily on ceramic sculpture, particularly figurative works depicting Australian fauna. His work is held in public collections in Australia and internationally.

Early life and education Cooley was born in 1956 in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, and grew up in the Northern Rivers region.

Career

Painting Cooley first gained recognition as a painter during the 1980s and 1990s. His early work engaged with modernist abstraction and expressionist traditions and included abstracted representations of Australian landscapes such as the Blue Mountains and Mount Warning.

Writing in Garland Magazine, curator Eva Czernis-Ryl observes that the layered surfaces of Cooley’s paintings anticipate aspects of his later ceramic practice, particularly in his approach to glazing and surface treatment.

Ceramics From the early 2000s Cooley increasingly focused on ceramics. In an interview with Art Almanac, he described being encouraged in this shift by James Mollison, former Director of the National Gallery of Australia.

His ceramic sculptures frequently depict Australian animals including kangaroos, cockatoos, cassowaries, wallabies, swans and sugar gliders. The works combine expressive modelling with elaborate glazing and painted surfaces.

Influences Cooley has cited a range of influences across painting and ceramics, including German Expressionist artists associated with Die Brücke. He has also discussed the influence of European ceramic traditions such as Rococo porcelain, particularly the work of Johann Joachim Kändler at the Meissen manufactory. National Gallery of Victoria Art Gallery of New South Wales Art Gallery of South Australia Art Gallery of Western Australia Powerhouse Museum, Sydney University of Queensland Art Museum HOTA, Gold Coast British Museum

Reception Cooley’s ceramic work has been discussed in contemporary craft and visual arts publications. Writing in Garland Magazine, Eva Czernis-Ryl highlights the relationship between Cooley’s earlier painting practice and his later ceramic work, particularly his use of layered surfaces and colour. and his earthenware work can easily be seen within the context of painting, pushing the landscape tradition into three dimensions.

Reviewing the exhibition RocoColonial at Hazelhurst Arts Centre, ArtsHub situated Cooley’s ceramic birds within a decorative tradition connected to Rococo collecting practices.

Representation Cooley lives and works in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, on the traditional lands of the Darug and Gundungurra peoples. He is represented by Martin Browne Contemporary in Sydney and Scott Livesey Galleries in Melbourne.