Artist Statement
From 1st December 2008 to 31st January 2009, Peter Liversidge typed and submitted134 proposals for Jupiter Artland. Ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, these suggestions include creating a snowstorm on the roof of Bonnington House on midsummer's day, to installing a sign in the grounds showing the distance to the planet Jupiter upon the day of its installation. A number of these proposals will be realised by the artist, and all 134 are collated in a new book published by Jupiter Artland, Jupiter Proposal.
Proposal No. 47 A Winters Shadow 6500 “Queen of the Night” tulips planted to mark the shadow of a Winter tree. “In this way the shadow cast by the winter sun lingers on, throughout the early summer.” “I propose to, during the winter mark out the shadows of a tree at Jupiter Artland. I will plant the shape of the shadow with black Queen of the Night tulips so that in the spring the shadows of winter will still be on the grass". In November 2009 Peter Liversidge and the Jupiter team planted six and a half thousand Queen of the Night tulips, creating a drawing of the winter silhouette of the grand oak that stands on the edge of the lawn, as you approach the park. In this way the shadow cast by the winter sun lingers on, throughout the early summer.
Biography
No single category or definition can successfully describe Peter Liversidge's extraordinarily diverse practice which includes work in almost every conceivable medium: drawing, film, performance, painting, photography, installations and editions/multiples. The subjects of his work can seem equally diverse - from an enduring obsession with the North Montana Plains (a place he has never visited) to a fascination with logos and luxury goods, and a preponderance for subverting our ideas about 'Nature' with his use of taxidermied birds and casts of natural objects in incongruous materials, all united by an underlying streak of dark, absurdist humour, and a gently persistent questioning of things.
Liversidge has exhibited widely in Britain and Europe, with exhibitions as part of the Eurpoalia / Europa Festival of Arts organised by the British Council in Brussels and at the Centre d'Art Santa Monica in 2008. Liversidge exhibited in The Fifth Floor - Ideas Taking Place at Tate Liverpool from December 2008-February 2009. In 2009 Liversidge will also participate in New Programme, the new curatorial initiative at Bloomberg Space, London, consisting entirely of newly commissioned work. In 2010 he will create a substantial installation within a new programme of contemporary art at the Corcoran Gallery, Washington.
His work is held in private collections worldwide and public collections including the British Council, Government Art Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne, Tate Gallery Archive and the Czech Museum of Fine Art, Prague.
Jupiter Artland
Signpost to Jupiter
Proposal no. 3 A Midsummer Snowstorm 2009 (See Video)
Proposal no. 47 A Winters Shadow
Proposal no. 63 & 97 Gin Stand & Plum Bread 2010 - Proposal room
