Art Cup Project
Artist: Pete Ross
Title: Orange Horizons
Medium: Oil on Marine Ply
Size (cm): 80 x 60 | Year: 2019
With a career in Art & Design spanning four decades, Pete stepped back from full-time commercial work in 2016 to pursue personal creative projects.
Introducing: Pete Ross
We sat down with Pete to find out about the man behind the painting and the painting in front of the man.
What’s his coffee order?
Blend #2 by Karvan, white but always double shot.
Where can you view his work?
Follow me on Instagram for updates and visit my website to view more.
I will be completing a series of works this year with the end goal of trying to exhibit. The last exhibition I had was right before COVID March 2021 with the WA Portrait Artists held at the Pakenham St. art exhibition. 400 people attended the opening night. We just got in before the COVID restrictions, but it was shut down 2 weeks after. There haven’t been lots of opportunities to exhibit, but at least it does mean we have more time to be creative and productive at home.
Read further to discover the interview.
Why did you choose this piece of artwork for the cup?
It was a piece I was working on at the time and I thought it would work well on the cup. You tend to favour work you’ve just completed or that you’re working on. When it gets old, you can get a little bored with it. Art is always a learning curve.
What is the story behind this piece of art?
It was an interpretation of the Australian landscape. Vey bright, amazing colours. Particularly those you see at sunset. Then it’s about trying to make the image work in an abstract fashion because you can lose control over that easily when you’re working with such big colours. I’m often inspired by the environment we live in. I’ll go for a drive and when I see an interesting tree, I’ll pull over and look closer at the micro details and colours in the flowers. There’s a local florist in Fremantle called The Flower Hound that does some wonderful native flowers, and I often find inspiration in those for colour references. When you look at the environment on a micro-level, it’s a whole different world.
What appealed to you about this project?
The art world is a tough gig. People do it because they love doing it. This project is a fantastic way to promote local artists and raise awareness of the work that they’ve been doing. There are a lot of fantastic artists out there and this is a brilliant vehicle to promote their work. It’s also a nice overlap between the café world and the art world. Often artists will meet over a coffee, read a book, rest, sit and think of inspiration whilst sitting in a café. Throughout history, cafes have been a meeting place to discuss all sorts of things.
Why is it important to support the arts?
It’s a big question, isn’t it… All forms of art are important to society? For all people to engage in it. To support the artist.
This is what’s great about the cups. You always wish more people came along to exhibitions. The more we can promote the quality of work that’s produced and engage with the work and then maybe buy more work – the better! As an artist, it’s always nice when people show up and engage with your work in whichever form it’s in. People often aren’t aware of how long it takes to get work together for an exhibition. It’s often years of work. An enormous amount of effort. It would be great to see more people come along, drink some cheap wine, eat some cheese and look even better if there are some red stickers on the canvas.
What’s interesting is that only 1% of artists in Australia actually make a living from it. When they sell a piece of artwork, it often goes back into paints, canvas, or whatever it is they need to do their art. The motivation for art isn’t to make money, it’s a need to do it.
