Media
By Kim Murray, Margaret River Online March 2006
Emerging local artist Peter Moir has called his first solo exhibition 'decorticating' that means stripping bare, which is what Margaret River women have been doing in numbers for him.He can't believe the response to his requests for women he selects because of their beautiful smiles to bare their breasts and smile for the easel.
So far 33 local women have accepted his offer and the result covers a big section of his recently constructed studio on his farm at Osmington.
There is a peculiar Andy Warhol quality to the exhibition, partly the result of the almost naive way in which Peter has captured the character and beauty of his models that range in age from 18 to 55.
The 56-year-old self-taught artist last year decided to re-organise his working life on his grazing and olive farm to give himself time to immerse himself in what has been calling him all his life, painting.
Without doubt following his passion has been the right decision. "I am the happiest bloke I know," he said last week as he put the finishing touches to his first solo exhibition..
His output in the past 12 months is impressive and apart from the smiling topless women other nudes of both the human and botanical form will make-up the exhibition that opens on Friday (March 31) at the Gallows Gallery in Glyde Street Mosman Park.
Some of the smiling topless subjects have become full body subjects for Peter and in the main have been captured using charcoal that he applies to paper using an interesting technique he has developed with brushes that give a soft, sensuous result.
Karri trees, like those growing in the Boranup forest, are the subjects that have proved most popular to buyers of Peter's art so far. That's where the title for the exhibition comes in as 'decorticating' refers to the stripping of bark from a tree trunk.
He gives the trees an almost human form with graceful curves and nooks and crannies that are unmistakably feminine, or perhaps their beauty is just in the eye of this beholder . . .
The exhibition opens at 6.30pm on Friday and continues until April 23.
