Collection: Peter Gough

1947-2020

Peter Gough was born in Nova Scotia in 1947. He has a home and studio on the south shore of Nova Scotia.

Gough began his art education at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, having received a scholarship to the college in 1969. Three years later, Gough attended Andrews University in Michigan, USA and continued his fine art education under the influence of sculpture Allan Collins, who designed the Kennedy Memorial for John F. Kennedy at Runnymede.
A realist painter, Gough is influenced by his rural surroundings and is constantly aware of the challenges it faces by urban progress. Firmly rooted in the physical reality of the places he chooses, at a moment in time, his paintings are imbued with a luminosity that transcends realism.
Gough has exhibited in the United States, Scotland, England and Canada. He is represented in galleries across Canada and the US. His works are in many private, corporate and public collections throughout Europe, the United States and Canada. One of his paintings was presented to his Royal Highness, Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh on his royal tour to Canada in 1997.
In 1992 Peter was awarded the Canada 125 medal for the creation of the Canada 125 logo.
“I am passionate about what I paint. For as long as I can remember I have always had a reverence for the natural world. I feel drawn and connected to the land and am constantly aware of the primal essence of nature. I note the moods of the changing weather and seasons and marvel how a well-beloved landscape can change it’s appearance from one day to the next, one hour to the next.

As Picasso said, “I don’t search for things, I find them.” Once I get to know an area I recognize almost instinctively what I want to paint. The more familiar you are with an area or landscape, the more aware you are of its details, its nuances. You develop a sense of its intrinsic nature—its soul. And I’ve come to realize that I’m not only trying to portray the visual world in my painting, I’m saying something about my spiritual response to the land and its dynamic harmonies, as well.

My goal as an artist has not been to merely create a detailed likeness of the landscape. Rather I am looking for a dimension, a personality, a mood that resides in each of the places that I paint. And I hope my work encourages the viewer to give serious thought to humanity’s relationship to our natural surroundings – our need to respect, to revere nature.
Although my paintings have been inspired by real places, they serve as metaphors for me, a narrative of my life, about who I am and what's important to me and how I see myself as part of the natural world. I like to paint large canvases, their epic size doing justice to the grandeur of the subject matter- landscapes and seascapes in the romantic landscape tradition. The depiction of light is integral to my painting, and reflects my appreciation for the work of the 'luminists' and the Hudson River school.

When I began painting landscapes I was obsessed with portraying as much detailed realism as possible. And while realism will always be my first love, I am now exploring the possibility of representational painting and abstraction co-existing at the same time and at the same place. Where my realism work is an acknowledgement of the pure grandeur of nature, my abstract work is a recognition of how complex and mysterious the natural world is.

I believe that every work of art should in some way be a revelation. It should change us in some degree–both viewer and artist. “