Above Image: Peter Wegner (right) pictured with subject Sylvia Drager (centre) at Benalla Art Gallery 2022
Peter Wegner continues to add to his ambitious centenarians series with a solo exhibition at Benalla Gallery, Victoria. In a feature by the ABC, Wegner discusses the particulars of the exhibition and what encourages him to connect to his subjects.
The Centenarians celebrates a project which commenced in 2013 when acclaimed artist Peter Wegner drew his Aunty Rita. This formative sitting inspired Wegner to seek out other Centenarians who were still living lives with mobility, curiosity and purpose. In the eight years since Rita’s portrait, the artist has completed portraits of well over 100 Centenarians across Victoria and New South Wales.
“Each drawing was completed from life in an afternoon or morning with little alteration to that first impression, they are moments captured within a time allowed.”
Peter Wegner The Centenarians Benalla Art Gallery 2022
Peter Wegner received a postgraduate diploma in fine arts from the Philip Institute of Technology in 1988. Wegner famously painted his friend Graham Doyle more than 100 times since they met in art school in the 1980’s. He has held solo exhibitions in Sydney and Melbourne and his work has been included in group exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.
Wegner was announced as the winner of the 2021 Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales for his painting Guy Warren at 100. He was awarded the Doug Moran Prize in 2006 and completed a commission sponsored by BHP for the National Portrait Gallery. He has lectured in drawing at Ballarat, La Trobe, RMIT and Monash since 1996. His work is held in the collections of the National Library of Australia, Canberra; the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra; the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne and several regional and tertiary galleries.
Peter Wegner Portrait of Guy Warren at 100 2021 oil on canvas 120.5 x 151.5 cm
Click here to read Peter Wegner’s ABC feature.
Click here to find out more about The Centenarians.
Peter Wegner, The Centenarians
Benalla Art Gallery, Victoria
1 July – 28 August
Open 7 days
10am – 5pm