Peter Doig1991
by Doig, Peter
Whether painting a mysterious bearded figure floating on a flat wash of blue or a winter landscape glimpsed through a thick web of branches, Peter Doig harnesses the materiality of his medium to create what he calls 'abstractions of memories', distilling recollected sensations into moments of pure sentience, like scenes in a series of mysterious narratives. In "Gasthof zur Muldentalsperre" (2000-2) two costumed figures stand guard at a low stone wall while behind them a reservoir reflects a twinkling starry sky. The young man bundled up against the cold in "Blotter" (1993) contemplates his reflection in a frozen pond, while in "Red Boat (Imaginary Boys)" (2004) six men in white shirts navigate upstream through a dense tropical landscape.
Doig's work has been exhibited at the world's top...