Peter Ciemitis
Peteris (Peter) Ciemitis'art practice spans 20 years, and includes numerous solo and group shows in Australia and Internationally, as well as many significant art prizes and commissions. Notably, in 2010 he won the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture (Lester Prize) and has been a finalist in the Archibald Prize twice. Peter's work is represented in major collections and museums, from the National Portrait Gallery to the National Museum of Art (Arsenale) in Latvia.
He is represented by Linton and Kay Gallery, through which he has held multiple solo shows. Peter has exhibited Nationally (Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra), and in many international exhibitions (Latvia, India, China, Italy, Bangla Desh and Japan), including the G20 Summit international exhibition in Hangzhou (2016), the collateral program of the Venice Biennale (2017), and the 19th Asian Biennale in Dhaka (2018).
In particular, he is known for contemporary portraiture. From an artist's perspective, portraiture today revolves around studying and reflecting on the psyche and internal narratives of his subjects. This is why my portraits are frequently cropped; to move towards abstraction and mapping as a device to focus on the interior.