THIRTY years ago Sydney artist Peter Day had a life-changing experience. The former music promoter won a scholarship to attend the Royal Art Society in North Sydney and met Archibald winner Arthur Murch, the teacher that changed his life.
“I was involved in the music business and some of the things that go with rock ‘n’ roll,” Mr Day said. “I was a pretty rough and tumble type of boy back then.”
Mr Day attributes Mr Murch for “polishing up” his ragged edges and helping him realise his potential. “Arthur was a gentle, honest and knowledgeable human being,” he said.
“He saw that I kept asking questions and was interested in the craft of painting … and he and the other teachers at the Society filled in the missing gaps for me.”
Mr Day said life is about experiences and his latest exhibition ‘Day: Survey, thirty something years of work on paper’ represents the major phases of his development as an artist over the last decades.
“It’s 30-something works, 30-something exhibitions over 30-something years,” he said.
A multi-faceted artist, Mr Day works in the public art domain with more than 170 commissions to his name including two of the biggest murals in the southern hemisphere, Although he loves both, Mr Day said public and personal art is quite different. “In public art you have a client and have a responsibility to them,” Mr Day said. “With my personal collection I only a responsibility to myself and I am free do purely what I like.”
The exhibition is being held until November 5 at The Marianne Newman Gallery, Suite 1/1 Albany St. Crows Nest.
The North Shore Times, October 2006