Peter Hayes

I was lucky to have a grandfather who introduced me to art. He showed me the landscapes of Constable and of Turner and I liked them well enough, but what really fascinated me was a picture by Bruegel of two monkeys on a window ledge: of their predicament—they were captive, and of the freedom beyond the window that they could see but not share. Bruegel’s unsettling pictures have had a deep impact upon me ever since. Goya was another early revelation. Rummaging on bookshelves, I also discovered gentler insights into the human condition brilliantly imparted in a few lines by illustrators Jules Feiffer and Tove Jansson.

These childhood inspirations have stayed with me and until recently almost all of my paintings and illustrations have had humans or anthropomorphic animals at their centre. Then, in 2020, I tried painting a landscape—and loved it. Since that time, most of my paintings have been landscapes, although I still sometimes paint and draw in my earlier style.

I started painting landscapes after gaining a new awareness of the natural world. In 2017 arthritis stopped me from running, so I went walking instead, and found that I was beginning to sense my surroundings at a new level. Places I had ran over for years seemed ...

In 2023 I am in my final year of MA Fine Art, University of Sunderland, UK

‘Mother and Child’ exhibited at Rimaldis Vikstraitis: Daily Rituals of Work and Play, Digital Takeover, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA), Sunderland, December 2022-January 2023.

Paintings exhibited at ‘Kitsch 22’, University of Sunderland MA Fine Art Show, Priestman Building, Sunderland, September 2022; and MA Fine Art Show. September 2023.

Landscapes exhibited at 17Nineteen, Sunderland Art Trail. September 2023.

‘Ilkley Lido’, exhibited at ‘Island Takeover’ Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA), Sunderland, July 2022.

‘Artemi Vedel’, exhibited at ‘We Stand with Ukraine’ Priestman Gallery, Sunderland, April 2022.

Pembrokeshire landscapes exhibited at Oriel Llanteglos, Saundersfoot, July 2021- January 2022.

‘Zoo’ exhibited at ‘Now That’s What I Call Art’, Newcastle Contemporary Art, High Bridge Works, December 2021-January 2022.

‘The Artist and the Sausage Machine’ a series of five prints with accompanying text, exhibited at Slab/AI, Priestman Gallery, Sunderland, March 2023.

‘View up the Tyne’ exhibited at ‘Mark Pinder: Macromancy,’ Digital Takeover’ Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA), Sunderland, April 2023.

‘Tree of Gold’ exhibited at Mind Magic (for Mental Health Awareness Week) Priestman ...