Peter O’Doherty was born in 1958 in Auckland, New Zealand, immigrating to Sydney with his family in 1968. While attending Barrenjoey High School on the northern beaches of Sydney he took classical guitar lessons for eight months, these classes were supplemented by some pointers from his older brother, Chris. In August 1977, as a bass guitarist, he joined his brother in the musical band Mental As Anything , which he left in 1999, bar one final gig in 2000. In 1991 the brothers formed the on-going band Dog Trumpet .
As a self-taught artist O’Doherty began to draw and paint in 1988, initially composing still lifes in pencil and crayon before using acrylics on paper. Watching his carpenter father construct houses, O’Doherty developed an acute awareness of the built environment, which has led to his using buildings as the primary subject matter for his paintings. His repertoire includes free standing houses and apartment blocks, often seen from across the street as if through a telescopic lens. The eye is invited to note the rhythm of elements such as windows and railings, the bold shadows they cast in full sunlight, and the play of verticals, horizontals and diagonals, establishing a strong sense of space. O’Doherty’s still lifes are of the domestic interior: a shaving brush and bar of soap on the vanity unit or bath rim; an empty armchair framed by skirting boards from behind and sunlight emanating from an unseen window. A distinctive feature of these works is the assertive use of colour – often a base palette of greys or beiges offset by strong colours such as red, orange or aqua – applied in a painterly manner so as to softly delineate the edges of the buildings.
As a practicing artist and musician O’Doherty sees little separation between music and art. In a 2002 interview with Bernard Zuel, O’Doherty said that art is: “like music. They are sort of useless in any practical sense but they’re the things that make culture” ( SMH).
Since 1991 O’Doherty’s paintings have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. On occasion he has exhibited with his wife, fellow artist Susan O’Doherty. In 2005 O’Doherty won the Paddington Art Prize and in 2007 the Allan Gamble Memorial Prize of the Mosman Art Prize. His Archibald entries have been shown in the Salon des Réfusés at the S.H. Ervin Museum and Art Gallery.
O’Doherty’s work is held in private collections, including those of fellow musicians.
- Writers:
- Lai, Hoi Ying
De Lorenzo, Dr Catherine
- Date written:
- 2008
- Last updated:
- 2011
