Peter O’Doherty was born in 1958 in Auckland, New Zealand and immigrated to Australia in the late ’60s with his family. He has been exhibiting regularly for over 20 years, across Australia and internationally; he has been a part of group exhibitions across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, New Zealand and England.
O’Doherty’s work typically pinpoints ‘urban suburbia’; fibro and brick houses, blocks of flats, high-rise facades, kitchen sinks, aeroplanes and landscapes. His representational paintings are tonal assemblages of oblique geometric detail, imbued with dense shadow and vivid Australian light. Peter has won the Paddington Art Prize for Landscape, the Commendation Award at the Mosman Art Prize, and the Alan Gamble Memorial Prize for the Built Environment. He has also been a finalist in various other prizes such as the Sulman, at the Art Gallery NSW and the Salon des Refuses.
Peter’s work can be found in the collections of the Art Gallery NSW, Artbank, Cowra Regional Gallery, Mosman Regional Art Gallery, the Union club NSW, Town Hall Collection Sydney, NERAM, Armidale and the Pat Corrigan Collection.
For two decades Peter was prominent musically, as the bass player in the band Mental As Anything. Since leaving in 1999, he and his brother Reg Mombassa (musician and illustrator) release albums together as Dog Trumpet.
John McDonald (SMH art critic, 2022) said of O’Doherty’s recent solo exhibition Somehow Connected, that “there is a nostalgia for an age of innocent vulgarity, for a time in which householders expressed their individuality with a bold colour scheme – a burst of red, blue or green that could stop passers-by in their tracks.”
King Street Gallery has represented Peter since 2009. Peter’s studio is based in Malabar, NSW.
Documentary film maker Bruce Inglis travelled to Gallipoli in 2014 with a group of Australian and New Zealand artists to document painting in the landscape and the human figure in the landscape. Full length DVD available through SYNC Pictures and King Street Gallery on William.
2024
Shadows King Street Gallery on William, Sydney NSW
2022
Somehow Connected King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2020
The distance between us King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2018
Ocentennial Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Manly
Somewhere to live King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2017
Moving House Maitland Regional Art gallery Maitland, NSW
2016
Through the window King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2015
Moving House NERAM, Armidale, Rockhampton Art gallery, Coffs Harbour Regional Art Gallery, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre.
2014
From the Street Gould Galleries, Vic
Constructed King Street Gallery on William
Moving House with Susan O’Doherty Cowra Regional Gallery & Gosford
Regional Gallery, Katoomba Culture Centre & Gallery, Sydney.
2012
In Conversation King Street Gallery on William
2011
Double Vision Australian Print Workshop [with Chris O’Doherty aka Reg Mombasa] Melbourne
2010
North and South Doggett Street Studio, Brisbane
Paper and Canvas King Street Gallery on William
2009
New Paintings King Street Gallery on William
2008
Malabar Sydney Grammar School, Sydney
2007
Built Up NG Art Gallery, Sydney
2006
Interiors/Exteriors Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
2005
Paintings Span Galleries, Melbourne
2004
Peter O’Doherty Gadfly Gallery, Perth
New Works Barry Stern Galleries, Sydney
2003
New Paintings Barry Stern Galleries
Recent Paintings Doggett Street
2002
New Paintings Barry Stern Galleries
New Paintings Jackman Gallery, Melbourne
Peter & Susan O’Doherty Bowen Gallery, Wellington, NZ
2001
Recent Paintings Barry Stern Galleries
Recent Paintings Doggett Street Gallery
Recent Paintings Jackman Gallery
2000
Recent Paintings Mary Place Gallery
Recent Paintings Jackman Gallery
Recent Paintings Mary Place Gallery
1999
Paintings Jackman Gallery
1998
Paintings Atrium Gallery, Sydney
1997
Recent Paintings Mary Place Gallery
1996
Paintings Mary Place Gallery
1993
Peter O’Doherty POD Gallery, Sydney
2023
Vibrations in Australian Drawing, Macquarie University Gallery, Sydney
Works from ‘A Conspicuous Object – the Maitland Hospital’ showcasing at ‘Elevate’ supporting Arts in Health, NSW Ministry of Health Head Office, St Leonards
2021
A Conspicuous Object – The Maitland Hospital Maitland Regional Art Gallery
The Big Picture Show King Street Gallery on William, Sydney, NSW
2020
Mosman Art Prize Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
2019
Mixed Grill Bruce Heiser Projects, M Arts Precinct, Murwillumbah, NSW
Inside/Outside King Street Gallery on William
2018
The Art of Friendship Gallery Lane Cove, Sydney NSW
2017
Artist Profile Australasian Painters Orange Regional Gallery, NSW
Cats, Bruce Heiser Gallery, QLD
2016
Paint my Place Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, NSW
Sulman Prize Finalist Exhibition Art Gallery of NSW
2015
Your Friend the Enemy 100 Years On Gallipoli, S.H. Ervin Gallery Sydney, ANU
Drill Hall Gallery Canberra, Bathurst Regional Gallery, Pataka, New Zealand,
The Piano has been Drinking [Not Me], Matiland Regional Art Gallery, NSW
Your Friend the Enemy, 100 Years On, Gallipoli, The Drill Hall, Canberra ACT
A Salute Gallipoli Drawing Show Goulburn Regional Gallery NSW
Band Wagon Heiser Gallery QLD
Suburban Dreams Glass House Gallery
Watters Gallery Sydney NSW
Stations of the Cross Uniting Church, Sydney
Mosman Art Prize Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
2014
Oz to Waiheke Waiheke Community Art Gallery, NZ
In/Two Art Grafton Regional Art Gallery, NSW
The Silver Light Bowen Galleries, NZ
Packsaddle New England Regional Art Gallery
2013
Suburban Noir Museum of Sydney
Artists Books Bowen Galleries, Wellington, NZ
Mosman Art Prize Mosman Art Gallery
The Hazelhurst Works on Paper Show Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, NSW
IN [TWO] ART, travelling: Wollongong City Art Gallery, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery; Swan Hill Regional Gallery, NSW
Beyond the Back Fence Heiser Gallery Brisbane, Qld
2012
The Animal Show King Street Gallery
Virtual Reality: Interpreting the Landscape [King Street Gallery @ Newcastle University Gallery, Newcastle, NSW
IN [TWO] ART Maitland Regional Gallery, travelling: S.H. Ervin Gallery; Orange Regional Gallery; Goulburn Regional Art Gallery; Swan Hill Regional Gallery; Wollongong City Gallery, NSW; Dalby Regional Gallery, Qld; Grafton Regional Gallery, NSW; Pine Rivers Art Gallery, Qld
2011
Mosman Art Prize Mosman Art Gallery
Sydney’s Contested Landscapes: Art meets science Art & About Customs House Forecourt, Sydney
2010
In Two Art Maitland Regional Gallery, NSW
2008
Art Fellow, Sydney Grammar School, Sydney
Urban King Street Gallery on William
2007
Alan Gamble Memorial Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
2006
Group Show, Heiser Gallery, Brisbane
Painted Egg Charity auction for Sydney Children’s Hospital
Sydney Art Fair, Fox Studios, Sydney
2005
Salon Des Refuses S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
Paddington Art Prize Marlene Antico Fine Arts, Sydney
2004
Dublin Art Fair Dublin
2003
Salon Des Refuses S.H. Ervin Gallery
2002
Salon Des Refuses S.H. Ervin Gallery
2001
Salon Des Refuses S.H. Ervin Gallery
Sulman Prize Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
ANCA Gallery, Canberra
Urban Dreams Bartley Drey Gallery, London, UK
1999
Salon Des Refuses S.H. Ervin Gallery
Black and white painting show Level Gallery, Sydney
1998
Group Show [with Mental As Anything], Chapel off Chapel Gallery Melbourne; Grafton Regional Art Gallery, Grafton; Manning Regional Art Gallery, Taree; Tamworth Regional Art Gallery, Tamworth; Orange Regional Gallery, Orange; Wollongong City Gallery, Wollongong, NSW
Redlands Westpac Art Prize Mosman Art Gallery
1997
Redlands Westpac Art Prize Mosman Art Gallery
Salon Des Refuses S.H. Ervin Gallery
Group show [with Mental As Anything] Manly Art Gallery and Museum, Sydney
1995
Guitar Shaped World Tamworth Regional Art Gallery
1993
Mentals II [with Mental As Anything], Tamworth Regional Art Gallery, Lismore Regional Gallery, NSW
Mentals II Westpac Gallery, Melbourne
Art Gallery of NSW
Artbank, Australia
Cowra Regional Gallery, NSW
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Qld
Mosman Art Gallery, NSW
The Union Club, NSW
Town Hall Collection, City of Sydney
Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, Max Watters Collection NSW
Coffs Harbour Regional Art Gallery NSW
NERAM, Armidale NSW
Pat Corrigan Collection
Art: High up by Peter O'Doherty by unknown
Art: High up by Peter O'Doherty by unknown
Sydney Morning Herald, Whats On
2020
O’Doherty artists want to take you back to your childhood by Trinette Stevens
The Morning Bulletin
2015
The Daily Telegraph
26 July 2014
A sleepless lion, three giraffes and one for the birds by Steve Meacham
Sydney Morning Herald
20 May 2009
