Peter Bonney
(1953- )
Peter Bonney was born in 1953 in the Cape but grew up in Natal, where he matriculated from Durban High School in 1970. He then studied at the Natal Technikon and qualified with a national diploma in analytical chemistry in 1976. He began working primarily in the polyurethane industry, first as a chemist and then subsequently in production. However in 1983, after twelve years in the chemistry industry, he turned to art and became an artist. By this time he had a wife and three children.
Bonney is a realist by nature but he desires to do more than just mechanically reproduce a scene.
The way in which he uses light, composition and his particular subject matter, often described as “intrusions in the landscape”, allows his paintings to be taken beyond the photograph, with respect of the portraying of the soul and a certain mystery of rural South Africa.
Over the ensuing years, the demand for his work has grown dramatically, and he has now become well established in the South African art scene. He has also been recognized and acknowledged in the media as being among the leaders in the hyper-realist school of painting in South Africa.
Bonney’s work can be found in many corporate collections as well as in innumerable private collections both locally and abroad.
Bonney is currently based in the Eastern Freestate highlands, where he continues to produce his unique depictions of the South African landscape.
He describes the South African landscape as such “our landscape is big sky and far away mountains, but it’s also much more than that and it’s the ‘much more’ that I want my paintings to be saying”.
Boney has had twenty-five highly successful one-man exhibitions and has participated in innumerable group exhibitions over the past two decades.
Exhibitions:
1985 – 9th Anniversary group show Crake Gallery
1986 – first one man show Crake Gallery; 10th Anniversary group show Crake Gallery
1987 – second one man show Crake Gallery; 11th Anniversary group show Crake Gallery
1988 – Inaugural Exhibition Strack van Schyndal Gallery; Third one man show Crake Gallery; Summer group show Crake Gallery; 12th Anniversary group show Crake Gallery
1989 – fourth one man show Crake Gallery; Winter group show Crake Gallery; 15th Anniversary group show Crake Gallery
1990 – Directors collection ‘survival’ exhibition; Inaugural exhibition Gallery Plett; Artists of the eighties at RAU; 14th Anniversary group show Crake Gallery; 5th one man show Crake Gallery
6th one man show Gallery Plett
1991 – Directors collection ‘In Full Flight’ exhibition; 15th Anniversary group show Crake Gallery
Spoornet ‘Brush with Steam’ exhibition; Spoornet ‘Sream Celebration’ exhibition; 7th one man show Crake Gallery
1992 – 8th one man show Crake Gallery; 16th Anniversary group show Crake Galllery
1993 – 9th one man show Crake Gallery; 17th Anniversary show Crake Gallery
1994 – 10th one man show Crake Gallery; 18th Anniversary group show Crake Gallery
1995 – 11th one man show Crake Gallery; 19th Anniversary group show Crake Gallery
1996 – 12th one man Village Studio Constantia; 13th one man show Crake Gallery; 20th Anniversary group show Crake Gallery; 5th Rose Korber ‘art salon at the bay’ Camps Bay
1997 – 14th one man show Crake Gallery; 15th one man show Village studio Constantia; 21st Anniversary group show Crake Gallery; 6th Rose Korber ‘Salon at the bay’ Camps Bay
1998 – 16th one man show Crake Gallery; 17th one man show Crake Gallery; 22nd Anniversary group show Crake Gallery; 7th Rose Korber ‘Salon at the bay’ Camps Bay
1999 – 23rd anniversary group show Crake Gallery; 18th one man show Crake Gallery; 19th one man show Crake Gallery; Summer Exhibition Hout Street Gallery Paarl; 8th Rose Korber ‘salon at the bay’
2000 – 23rd group show Crake Gallery; 20th one man show Crake Gallery; Nederberg wine sales exhibition Nederberg estate; 9th Rose Korber ‘salon at the bay
2001 – 24th anniversary group show Crake Gallery; 21st one man show Crake Gallery
2002 – 25th anniversary group show Crake Galley; 23rd one man show Crake Gallery; 24th one man show The Gallery Cirencester UK; 11th Rose Korber ‘salon at the bay’
2003 – Group show’uncovered Dublin Ireland; 26th anniversary group show Crake Gallery; 25th one man show Crake Gallery;12th Rose Korber ‘Salon at the bay’
2004 – 27th anniversary group show Crake Gallery; 26th one man show Crake Gallery; 13th Rose Korber ‘Salon at the Bay’; Miniatures exhibition Johan Smith Gallery
2005 – 28th anniversary group show Crake Gallery; Miniatures exhibtion Johan Smith Gallery
‘teapots’ exhibition Johan Smith Gallery; 27th one man show Crake Gallery; Peter Bonney ‘In Clarens exhibition’
2006 – 29th anniversary group show Crake Gallery; Miniatures exhibition Johan Smith Gallery; Clarens visual arts festival 2006; 28th one man show Crake Gallery
2007 – 30th anniversary group show Crake Gallery; Clarens visual arts festival 2007; 29th one man show Crake Gallery
2008 – 31st anniversary group show Crake Gallery; 30th one man show Crake Gallery
2009 – 32nd anniversary Group Show Crake Gallery; 31st one man show Crake Gallery
2010 – 33rd anniversary group show Crake Gallery; Wildlands Conservation Exhibition Spier Wine Estate; Summer exhibition Stellenbosch Gallery