NOTES

Beginnings

At the beginning of Notes, his collection numbered around 200. In their original settings, these scraps of paper could seem mundane. Looked at closely, each became a compelling artefact with its own handwriting, marks, folds, stains and unique sensibility. A tiny note can hold an entire relationship. Someone has forgotten the lasagne. Someone has taken the bench seat. Someone needs everyone to turn off the lights.

Peter developed the project through Melbourne’s COVID period, when time in the studio stretched out and handwritten instructions seemed to be multiplying everywhere.

Jason Maling asked a simple, troublesome question: what would happen if Peter took these small notes and made them enormous?

NOTES 2020-21

Peter brought the archive. Strange Engine provided long-term access to its Preston warehouse, a large wall and enough time for the experiment to find its form.

Enlarged onto paper and canvas up to three metres wide, the notes took on a monumental quality. A wobble of the pen became a gesture. A crease became terrain. Tape marks, stains and torn edges had to be carefully remade by hand. A private reminder began to sound like a public announcement. A passing complaint acquired the authority of a monument.

Working at this size also introduced a new set of practical problems. The paper was bigger than the table. A drawing could no longer be shifted by one person. Each work needed room to be made, viewed from a distance, laid flat, hung, dried and stored. It was part drawing, part logistics and occasionally part furniture removal.

With very little explanation, the works invite us to read between the lines. Their ordinary messages become poetic, philosophical, political or quietly profound. The banality and humour remain, while enlargement reveals something more: the ways people manage shared space, communicate with one another and attempt to keep daily life under control.

Strange Engine

Strange Engine supported Notes with space, time, ongoing conversation and a question large enough to change the work. Sometimes an artist needs a new method. Sometimes they simply need a much bigger wall.