Cathedral, Peter Stiles
at Studio KIND.
15th January - 6th March 2021
Virtual exhibition
Cathedral is a new solo exhibition of paintings by North Devon-based artist Peter Stiles.
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On leaving The Slade, Peter Stiles began to paint the landscape of North Devon and has continued to do so. His work is constructed using the layers of memory that have accrued around the places that he has painted so often. He composes pictures in order to convey emotion and a sense of grandeur and space.
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While much of his work is to do with a small section of North Devon’s coastline he also paints people. Recently he began a series of paintings about football which enabled him to tell stories. The football pictures stemmed from the memory of how, as a small boy, he was torn between loyalty to his local team and supporting a bigger more glamorous club instead. These pictures of footballers have allowed him to explore the relationship between home and a wider cultural context, and the fruitful tension between tending your own neck of the woods and reaching out towards broader horizons.
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Peter has had solo exhibitions at Plymouth Arts Centre, The British Academy in London, The Black Swan in Frome and the Site Festival in Stroud. He has initiated and managed numerous projects, including the Samuel Taylor Coleridge Festival, Vivarium, a touring show with North Devon museums examining George Eliot’s relationship with marine biology and The Art Writers Group that worked with organisations across the South West, including Arnolfini, Newlyn Art Gallery and Tate St Ives. He currently manages the gallery at The Plough Arts Centre, in Torrington.
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