Paintings by decorative designer on show

The newest exhibition at Uxbridge Arts and Culture in east Auckland showcases work by experienced and versatile Howick artist Peter Hall.

Entitled Take Five, it opens at the facility in Uxbridge Road, Howick, on March 1 and is described as a survey of his six-decade career.

It includes 16 paintings “demonstrating his eclectic oeuvre, genre hopping across landscape, architecture, representational and the abstract”.

“The exhibition at Uxbridge gives me an opportunity to show a selection of my different styles,” Hall says.

“It’s a real pleasure to have the chance to show my diversity in my paintings.”

That diversity can be traced to a career in design.

After graduating from the Royal College of Art in the 1960s, Hall worked for many decades and in numerous countries as a fabric designer for fashion and home-furnishing products.

Exhibition curator Zoë May has selected paintings from Hall’s extensive career, a particular challenge given the breadth of his practice and the scale involved in many of his works.

She hopes audiences will enjoy the interplay between Hall’s various modes.

“There’s a delightful contrast between Peter’s decorative and abstract work, driven by a career in the design industry, with his own stylised approach to contemporary landscape and representational painting,” May says.

Hall agrees with the sentiments, saying: “I am a decorative designer who also paints pictures.”

Unifying the exhibition is Hall’s love of jazz, acknowledged through the Take Five.

The well-known jazz tune performed by the Dave Brubeck Quartet provided a suitable reference to both Hall’s passion for music, his virtuosity as an artist, and the desire to seek a challenge.

Uxbridge director Paul Brobbel says: “I was pleased to arrive at Uxbridge in 2023 and see Peter coming up in the programme.

“You can see his wonderful textile designs at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London so it’s a thrill to see a larger picture of his practice here in Auckland.”

Take Five runs from March 1 to April 19 and is open 10am-4pm every day except Sundays.

Hall will deliver a free artist talk at Uxbridge on Saturday, April 5, at 11am.