Peter Lowe

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Peter Lowe
Peter Lowe

Peter Lowe (b. 17 June 1938) is a British Constructivism artist. He was born in London at Victoria Park, Hackney. He studied at Goldsmiths' College 1954-60 where he was taught by Mary & Kenneth Martin[1]. His work is rational, abstract, minimalist, and geometric. In 1960 he constructed and exhibited his first geometric reliefs and experimented with balanced transformable works. His work is mainly exhibited and appreciated in Europe where it is in many national collections. Founder member of systems group 1972 . Member of Arbeitskreis 1974-

A summary of the life and constructivist work of Peter Lowe, together with that of the other British constructivists, is given in Alastair Grieve's authoritative book of 2005. Selected group exhibitions


Peter Lowe has been making constructed abstract art since 1960. He trained at Goldsmiths College where he was taught by Kenneth and Mary Martin, two of the leading pioneers of this kind of art and he was strongly influenced by them, though his own work is very individual.

Constructed abstract art is not abstracted from the appearance of nature but is built up with basic geometric forms ordered systematically into harmonious rhythms. While its roots lie in the foundation abstract art movements of around the time of the First World War, it was most strongly developed in this country after the Second War by the Martins, Victor Pasmore, Anthony Hill and John Ernest. Throughout this long development the medium of the constructed relief has been important and it is here that Lowe has perhaps made his most distinctive contribution.

Lowe showed his early constructed reliefs from 1962 in a number of important exhibitions including The Geometric Environment at the Artists' International Association and Construction England toured by the Arts Council. He has been exhibiting regularly and extensively since, though it is noteworthy that the majority of his exhibitions and accompanying publications have been in Continental Europe where the tradition of Constructivism is more established than in this country. He is represented in major Continental collections such as Grenoble Museum and that formed by Peter Ruppert in W/uurzburg. In 1969 he took part in the exhibition Systeemi System in Helsinki which led to the formation of the British group Systems. Besides Lowe, this group included Jeffrey Steele, Malcolm Hughes, Jean Spencer, Michael Kidner, Gillian Wise, John Ernest and others. In the first half of the '70s they held several group and individual exhibitions, notably Systems in 1972 at the Whitechapel Gallery. Today, after decades of neglect in this country, the group is subject to keen interest with exhibitions at commercial galleries in London and at the Southampton City Art Gallery (until 31st March).

Lowe's art is systematic. He will take a basic shape and move it through predetermined sequences that grow logically, yet often surprisingly, into spiralling formations . In 1974 he started his series of Volume and Void reliefs in which squares are removed systematically from the base plane and stacked in developing sequence. These reliefs are unified by neutral, homogeneous materials and finishes that concentrate attention on the order of their forms. Lowe himself has remarked: 'The individual act of invention is not in the forms themselves but in the particular ordering of them' (see Exhibition catalogue, Systems, London, Arts Council, 1972-3, p. 35), which was exhibited at the Annely Juda Gallery in 1980, is a formative work in this series.

Scale is important. Though Lowe has made large, ground based works, most of his reliefs are of a modest, domestic scale. They are reassuring objects to live with, beautifully made, precisely ordered, accessible and constantly intriguing.

Alastair Grieve

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Martin

[edit] External links

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