INSTALLATION VIEW 'The Duality of Reality'Peta Minnici
INSTALLATION VIEW 'The Duality of Reality'2023
THE DUALITY OF REALITY, 2023
My still life paintings explore the perception of light through objects in space. The interplay of light travelling through objects both translucent and opaque creates unique patterns of shadows and reflections, which play an integral part in each of my compositions. The shadows are the essence of the objects themselves and connect them individually to each other, while the reflections symbolize the duality of reality; the world we see is not always the same as the world that truly exists. The shadows serve as a connection between the physical and the spiritual.
This duality of the physical and spiritual worlds is further explored in my interior paintings, in which windows and doorways act as a portal between the two. Each composition joins the reality of the interior spaces I have physically occupied and connected with, (in this case the home of the late renowned Australian artist Sir Arthur Boyd) in a montage of landscapes both perceived and imagined, overlapped and intertwined.
Peta Minnici 2023
Peta Minnici is a Sydney based artist whose work encompasses oil painting, drawing and watercolour. Selecting subjects based on personal memory, her subjects range from humble figurative portraits and still life images to familiar landscapes and interior settings.
Minnici deconstructs imagery creating a time-lapse effect which draws attention to the materiality of painting and drawing. Her drawing focuses on mark making, employing a labour-intensive process of vertical or horizontal hatching which is formed over time, while her paintings comprise numerous layers of thin paint which aims to undo the representation of each subject into small brush strokes of tone and colour.
Shifting between representation and abstraction these processes parallel the nature of time, the recording of personal memory and the complex nature of viewing time.
Peta Minnici attended the Julian Ashton Art School and has completed a Bachelor and Master of Fine Art from the National Art School.
Peta's work has been exhibited in Australia at the Manly Art Gallery and Museum, National Art School, The Brett Whiteley Studio, Redland Art Gallery, Grafton Regional Gallery, Manning Regional Gallery, Hervey Bay Regional Gallery, University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery, Griffith Regional Gallery, Latrobe Regional Gallery and Tamworth Regional Gallery.
In 2015 she was awarded the John Olsen Prize for Drawing, The Parkers Fine Art Award for painting and the Parkers Fine Art Award for all disciplines. In 2017 she was selected as a finalist for the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship. In 2019 and 2020 she was selected as finalist in the Dobell Drawing Prize and was awarded the Kedumba Drawing award. Her work is held in private and public collections throughout Australia.
Peta Minnici
Born 1990, Sydney
Lives and works in Sydney
EDUCATION
2018
Master of Fine Art (Drawing), National Art School, Sydney
2015
Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting), National Art School, Sydney
2012
Diploma of Fine Art, Northern Beaches Campus, Sydney
2011
Ceramics Certificate 3, Northern Beaches Campus, Sydney
2009
Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
‘Recent Drawings’, Kedumba Gallery, Wentworth Falls, NSW
2023
'The Duality of Reality', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
2022
'Upon Reflection', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
Survey Exhibition with 333 Art Projects at Clayton Utz, Sydney
'Kaleidoscope', Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney
2021
'Marking Time, Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney
'Landscape Dreaming', Adelaide Perry Gallery, Sydney
2020
'Looking In, Seeing Out', May Space Gallery, Sydney
2019
'Light on Nostalgia', May Space Gallery, Sydney
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
‘Eclectic’, Kedumba Gallery, Wentworth Falls, New South Wales
'The Highlights Exhibition', 3;33 Art Projects at Clayton Utz, Sydney.
2024
'The Spring Show’, Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane.
We are delighted to share that Peta Minnici has been selected as a finalist in the 2024 Calleen Art Award with her work ‘Rose Connection’.
The Calleen Art Award is a $30,000 National acquisitive prize, awarded annually to celebrate contemporary art practices and to foster originality, creativity and excellence in the visual arts. The finalists will be exhibited at the Cowra Regional Art Gallery from 28 September - 17 November 2024.
IMAGE: Peta Minnici Rose Connection 2023 oil on linen 112 x 112 cm
Peta Minnici's still life painting ‘Sensory Perception’ was selected as a finalist in 2024 Muswellbrook Art Prize. The Muswellbrook Art Prize aims to foster the interest in and understanding of art in the Upper Hunter Valley and to help promote and encourage Australian artist’s and their work.
We are thrilled to announce that Peta Minnici features in 'Clayton Utz Art Partnership, The First Five Years'.
Published in Conjunction with Clayton Utz, 3:33 Art Projects, and Bandicoot Publishing Pty Ltd, Alexandria, NSW, Australia. Editors: Bruce Cooper, Kon Gouriotis and Max Germanos. Contributing writer: Dr. Judith Pugh.
The Clayton Utz Art Partnership brings together a unique collaboration between two outstanding Australian artists and their firm.
The Dobell Drawing Prize is an unparalleled celebration of drawing technique and innovation. Presented by the National Art School in partnership with the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation, the biennial prize explores the enduring importance of drawing within contemporary art practice. The 2021 exhibition showcased work by 64 finalists from around the country, demonstrating the vitality and scope of current Australian drawing.
Minnici's drawing are formed intuitively using a gradual technique of mark making, creating a blurring of focus and a slowing of viewing time; emphasising the tonal structure of each image through the loss of edges and turning the photographic image into a series of atmospheric sensations reminiscent of a memory.
The Kedumba Drawing Collection was started in 1990 and embodies and reflects all the elements of outstanding drawing created in Australia over more than 50 years and has acquired almost two hundred drawings.
Peta Minnici subject of her work depicts Minnici almost as a voyeur peering from outside through glass windows of Bundanon Homestead during my recent residency. Capturing both inside and surrounding landscape in one frame, as a play on reflections, allows the internal foyer and staircase to fuse seamlessly with the mountains and trees.
Minnici's work 'Looking In, Seeing Out - Bundanon' has been acquired into this collection.
Congratulations to Peta Minnici who is a finalist for the 2019 Dobell Drawing Award for her work 'Dusk Hill End'.
The Dobell Drawing Prize was originally held annually at the Art Gallery of NSW, initiated by the Gallery and the Trustees of the Sir William Dobell Art Foundation. The Prize aims to encourage excellence in drawing and draughtsmanship among Australian Artists.
The subject depicted in my work illustrate an internal thought process that is based on personal memory and focuses on an implied journey through time, i.e. Drawing at Hill End in the late afternoon . Although the drawing is based on a photograph, my aim was to deconstruct the representation portrayed, into vertical lines of tone, turning the photographic image into a series of atmospheric sensations which are reminiscent of a memory. I transcribe the image onto paper with a graphite pencil, enlarging the scale of the image then apply the tonal variations through a hatching technique of small vertical lines with black pen. My technique creates a blurring of focus and emphasises the tonal structure of each image through the loss of edges. In this work the drawn mark evokes the fragility of remembering, as the mark making creates a movement causing it to move from a past to a present. The drawn line also relates to the concept of memory consisting of a mass of marks that are designated into what we have seen, heard and felt.
