The Samstag Alumni
The 1999 Anne & Gordon Samstag
International Visual Arts Scholarships
Peter Alwast | Stephen Bram | Kristian Burford | Nicholas Folland | Paul Hoban | Hanh Ngo | Deborah Paauwe | Matthew Warren
Peter Alwast puts geometric abstraction back into the painting argument, but is motivated instead by more hybridizing, post-modern ideals. The youngest of the '99 Samstag group, Alwast approaches '80's New York minimalism with Pop Art in mind, entitling his works Monster and Return of the Living Dead. Bloated, bumby, but reduced to simple form, Alwast stuffs his flashy acrylic surfaces with enough silicone to turn a law suit.
While Alwast doesn't speak of cosmetic surgery, he does seem obsessed with the grotesque, which appears to be a preoccupation of an age bred on cyborgs, genetic cloning, and spoon-fed weekly TV installments of the paranormal.
M.A. Greenstein
from her Samstag catalogue essay;
Back to the Future - From Wry to Rave
| Peter Alwast Born 1975, Warsaw, Poland |
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| 1999 | Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship MFA, Parsons School of Design, New York, USA |
| 1997 | Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane |
Return of the Living Dead 1997
acrylic and silicone on wood
44 x 40 cm
© the artist
Monster1 (detail) 1998
polyurethane and acrylic
61 x 55 cm
© the artist