Peter Doig

Peter Doig is an English painter born in Edinburgh 1959. He was raised in Canada, it was only in 1979 he moved back to the UK to study in London. He studied at the Wimbledon School of Art (1979 - 80), St Martin’s School of Art (1980-83), and Chelsea School of Art (1989-90).

Often working from photographs and film, Doig’s paintings are a balance between figuration and abstract surface qualities.The general theme of his paintings is of the relationship between man and the environment or man and his environment. 

When asked in interviews what Doig paints and why, Doig simply replies with “What is a valid subject or valid emotion to exploit in a painting? What do i paint? I paint landscapes. Sometimes with figures in them. That is the only important information you need to know, until you actually see the paintings.” 

The majority of his paintings also tell a story. For example ‘Echo Lake’.

This large dark painting created in 1998 is of a night scene. 

To me this painting reflects a murder mystery. We are only seeing the aftermath of an event we have not witnessed. We guess the previous event by searching this scene for clues. With this painting you take several elements and connect them to conclude a story.

The painting is split horizontally by a line of white representing the shore of a lake. Above it is a band of over grown land. In the middle of this land is a parked American style police car. This is the first clue that tells me this painting could be reflecting a incident. A man wearing black trousers, a white shirt and a narrow black tie stands at the lakeshore looking out of the painting towards the viewer. Linking with the police car the man’s clothing suggests that he is most likely a policeman.  As his hands are placed on his face with his mouth shaped as an o-shape, this indicates that he is shouting out into the dark lake. Then with help of the title we guess that nothing comes back to him but his own voice. His Echo. The bottom half of the painting represents a blurry mirror image of the landscape above the shoreline. This reflection provides an echo.  

My belief is that someone has drowned in this dark lake. The policeman in the scene is shouting out over the lake looking to any signs of life. 

Combining everything i have found from this painting, the painting it’s self is very emotional. It creates a airy, cold, sad and mysterious feeling. Makes a shudder go down my spine. 

Doig’s earlier work consists of the surfaces of his paintings, appear in complex and tangles, offering frustrated and interrupted views.

For example The Architects Home in the Ravine, which is my favourite paintings by Peter Doig. 

The Architects Home in the Ravine is a oil on canvas created in 1991. Likely to be created and based on his family’s home in Canada.

When at first glance the twigs steal the show. They create a tangling wilderness, breaking the painting into many small pieces. The painting as a whole looks like frosted glass because of the twigs. It’s only when you look through the over growing twigs than your eyes connect and focus on the richness of the distant woods and the architects home, now giving meaning to the title of the painting. Then your eyes travel to other parts of the painting like the small lake and pine trees below. As the view you are looking through the distracting surface to find a full landscape and scene. 

As a viewer i feel like i’m an intruder. I’m on someone else land peering between the twigs into someone’s home. As its based in a partly over grown woods, as the viewer i feel cold. Feels like a photograph from a paparazzi. However with bright coloured blocks used on the house for windows. The house itself feels warm and as if someone is in the house at the time and living there happily.  

Other paintings similar to this also carrying the theme of mans relationship with nature are Doig’s collection of paintings from the cabin series. Specifically ‘Concrete Cabin West Side’ created in 1994 and ‘Concrete Cabin 2’ created in 1992.

These paintings give the impression that the cabin are in the middle of the woods. Middle of no where. There is a contrast of the dark woods to the bright grid like structure of the cabin. Showing the contrast between the built and the natural. Nature encroaching on modern architecture.

As ‘The Architects Home in the Ravine’ was created in 1991, the paintings from his cabin series must have evolved from that painting. They hold the same subject matter but vary in appearance. Both elements of man and nature are there however the twigs from the natural trees don’t over take the painting as much. Also there is more of an obvious contrast between man and the environment, with the environment being very dark and the manmade building being bright. 

This creates two contrasts. First between nature and man with man being the architect's home. So natural and manmade. Secondly between cold and warm. With nature as the cold element and man as the warm element.

The subjects of Doig’s painting is not the only element of his work i fine interesting. The process and construction of his paintings are also ver inspiring. 

As Doig works mainly from photographs and film. The first step he takes from going from photography to painting is to create an etching.

‘Man dressed as a bat’ has an interesting construction. It is the construction rather than the subject that i am more interested in. Created in 2007 this painting is oil on linen. A lot of the marks on the painting are from natural courses. Rain coming into the studio. Some of these marks where there before he even started. He also allowed the painting to get wet as he was painting it. He used the paint in a fluid way and didn’t want the paint to build to much. He focuses on the general atmosphere of the painting. Using the techniques to create the atmosphere. 

The conclusion and the main idea i have took from researching Peter Doig is that he has used the environment for both subject matter and construction of his paintings.