Peter Peryer

Fork and Spoon 2003

180mm x 240 mm

Chartwell Collection

First exhibited at McNamara Gallery: Photography in Wanganui, New Zealand, in an exhibition titled www.peryer.co.nz, 4 June - 28 June 2003, and included in the major Chartwell exhibition in 2003 at Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, Fork and Spoon 2003 encapsulates a number of interests for Peryer:

The joy of discovery: the artist was visiting a friend and noticed the salad servers in the kitchen. A day or so later, he returned and decided to photograph them. He held them with one hand and the camera with the other.
 
The everyday/domestic as subject matter: previously Peryer has photographed toys, cakes, pebbles, chairs and other items from the everyday. He transforms them into iconic images that take on a new perspective.

The boldness of isolated form: the shapes are celebrated as pure form and pattern- one rounded, the other jagged. The materials are of interest to the artist working within the Asia- Pacific region as the servers are made from coconut wood. 

The human twist: Taking on references to a human couple, the image of the servers acts like a portrait and in this way make reference to famous portraits of couples in Western art history, notably American Gothic, by Grant Wood. In Peryer’s work, the famous pitch fork and the head of the farmer merge to become one.