Arts Week

Peter Hutchinson

I was thrilled to have Peter Hutchinson on my show last Thursday! We have been friends for several years, and I’ve always admired many things about him—his vast knowledge of arcane subject matter, his writing, his reading, his music, and of course his visual art. So it was very exciting indeed to welcome him to Arts Week.

One of the first things one notices about Peter Hutchinson’s art is the color: could anyone look at any of his pieces and not find one’s heart and spirit lifted? I rather think not.

The Artist Statement: “My work, while quite varied, is about  nature, ecology, beauty and is often self-referential in regards to my life and experience, which I often use in the written attachments under the photo-collages.  These collages while mostly photo, often contain some drawing and water-color or oil stick.  My most recent show was last March with Freight and Volume Gallery, NYC run by Nick Lawrence who used to have the DNA gallery in Provincetown and with whom I have worked for at least twenty years.  Other galleries who show my work are Bugdahn und Kaimer in Dusseldorf and Blancpain Gallery in Geneva.”

A little about him: Peter Hutchinson (American/British, b. 1930) is a conceptual artist, and one of the pioneers of Land Art. Hutchinson was born in London and grew up in the English countryside. In 1953, he moved to the United States, graduating in 1962 with a BFA from the University of Illinois. After his time at university, he moved to the East Coast, first to New York, where he lived until 1981 and created various Land Art installations.

Hutchinson was inspired by early landscape painting and garden art, due, in part, to his English roots. Hutchinson’s Land Art tries to intervene through less intrusive interventions in nature, attempting to integrate itself into its surroundings. Hutchinson examines processes and changes, as well as decline and decay in nature, and always integrates part of the existing landscape into his art.

During his travels around the world, Hutchinson collects found objects, which he then incorporates into his artistic assemblages. In addition, the artist deals with photo collages. He arranges selected objects from his travels, as well as elements from his own garden, creating new, colorful, ideal landscapes. In some of these compositions, he includes oil pastels, gouache, and colored pencils.

All of his art works contain a handwritten note from the artist.

Learn more about this fabulous Provincetown artist and Renaissance man at www.peterhutchinsonartist.com. His works are represented in collections such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Basel, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

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Jeannette de Beauvoir is the host of Arts Week on WOMR, a contributing writer to Provincetown Magazine, and a novelist, editor, and marketing writer. More about her at linkedin.com/in/jeannettedebeauvoir