"Blenchi" Drawing

Spending most of his life in and around oceans, seas and rivers, Peter Strobos is an artist who has had a lifelong affinity with water. His fascination with fluid forms has led him on a life journey of artistic exploration, a pursuit which becomes apparent in the different stages of his work.

With an early background in graphite and pastel drawing, he later progressed to oil on canvas and fine linen. Working from a limited palette, he prefers the flexible touch of large stretched linen substrates. With pure, strong colour and layering, he strives to achieve a luminosity that indicates aura, life, movement and tangible space.

Some of his early influences include Ancient Egyptian and Roman Art; the Dutch Masters, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals; and the Surrealist, Salvador Dalí. He has had the privilege of visiting many Art Museums, galleries, historic and prehistoric art sites around the world, and continues to be inspired by the history and cultural diversity of the countries where he has lived and traveled.

Through the years, his artwork has been collected internationally and commissioned by private collectors from different parts of the world. He has participated in various exhibitions and events, starting at the Anne Bryant Art Gallery in the early 1990’s, and later at the King William’s Town Museum. He exhibited his paintings at different galleries and art shows, in and around Cape Town, for many years. He and his wife also ran their own gallery and public studio space there. Other exhibitions included an invitation to a group exhibition at the 2003 President’s Cup, and invitations to group exhibitions at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. He was offered representation by Everard Read Cape Town shortly before relocating to Europe.

In 2010 he was selected as an award recipient artist at the 25th Chelsea International Fine Art Competition, by Megan Fontanella, then Assistant Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. He received a Certificate of Excellence and was chosen to participate in the Collective Exhibition at Agora Gallery in Chelsea, New York.

Later that year, he was selected by a group of distinguished jurors as a ‘Myartspace at Scope Miami 2010’ finalist. His artwork was chosen to represent MyArtspace at SCOPE Miami 2010 in the Exhibitors catalogue, and a selection of his paintings were digitally on display at Scope Miami.