Peter Tyndall

Celebrating 50-years of one of Australia’s most influential artists.

This was the first major retrospective exhibition of one of Australia’s most influential artists, Peter Tyndall. Maintaining a rigorous studio practice spanning 50 years, Tyndall‘s expansive works contemplate the fundamental questions about the construction of meaning. Tyndall interrogates how art, language, presence and absence operate in relation to one another in comprehending the world around us.

Reflecting on his unwavering commitment to this way of seeing the world, Tyndall created a unique set of symbols to describe his philosophical framework where he structured his entire artistic practice. The exhibition demonstrated Tyndall’s process from making art, innovation, and life-long dedication to insatiable productivity.

Celebrating Tyndall’s remarkable career, this exhibition charted the development of his philosophical framework for seeing and viewing art – and ourselves – in relation to the world around us. In November 1974, Tyndall began to use a unique set of symbols to describe this relationship, including his iconic ideogram and repeating title. He continues to use these devices today, structuring his entire artistic practice around this insight.

Featuring over 200 works encompassing the entire museum, the exhibition included paintings, drawings, correspondence art, and unseen works ranging back to the 1970s. The exhibition drew from the University’s significant collection alongside artworks on loan from national institutions and private collections.

For Tyndall, making art is a collective endeavour and the interconnectedness of all things is at the core of his practice. Peter Tyndall reminds us that we are not alone, and the viewer is an active participant in the art-making process.

Curated by Samantha Comte, Senior Curator Art Museums, University of Melbourne, and Dr Simon Maidment.

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Gallery

Exhibition catalogue

Peter Tyndall

We are delighted to present Peter Tyndall, the artist’s first major monographic publication, published to coincide with the retrospective exhibition of the same name at Buxton Contemporary Art Museum in 2023.

This catalogue, like the exhibition, concludes with Tyndall’s most recent major work: a compilation of 113 paintings on unstretched primed canvas, from a group of 129 realised in 2018.

Curated by Samantha Comte, Senior Curator Art Museums and Dr Simon Maidment.

The publication has been supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation.

Editor: Annika Aitken

Available for purchase at Buxton Contemporary, with postal delivery available. For purchase enquiries contact Buxton Contemporary.

$30, student discount 50%

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Peter Tyndall interviews

Dive deeper into the exhibition content with interviews with Peter Tyndall and extended text