Peter Godwin

Born Sydney, Australia

Lives & Works Central Coast (Kuring-gai)

A graduate of the National Art School, Peter Godwin lectured in painting, drawing and printmaking at the school for many years. He was awarded the Gruner Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 1979 and again in 1985. He has been a recipient of the Mosman Art Prize and has also hung as a finalist in the Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW. He was awarded the Australia China Art Residency Art Prize in 2026.

His work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Orange Regional Gallery, Parliament House, Canberra, Government House, Sydney and the National Gallery of Australia. A major survey exhibition of his work, Space, Light & Time, was shown at Orange Regional Gallery in 2024 and S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney in 2025.

“Through the use of a wonderfully subdued colour palette and clever composition with empty voids, Godwin is able to produce entrancing images that are not overloaded with weighty meaning but highlight the evocative pleasures and joy of a wistful paint-loaded brush.

Languid, flowing lines sweep through his pictures, delineating the forms of a chair, couch or interior screen. What may seem mundane at first thought is transformed into a vital living space. The way Godwin works his spatial relationships in his compositions allows for a transformative effect on these somewhat representational rooms and still-lifes which almost straddle abstraction.

In his work there is a slow, systematic approach of the painter’s craft, which utilises the element of pattern, creating fascinating still-lifes that look alive. Familiar motifs become objects of discovery and reinvention, and are well used by the artist. Oceanic artefacts, shells, fabric and sculpture, from his own collection, are paired with birds, squid or fish strewn across tabletops. His works show a curiosity, an interest in the painter’s world and enjoyment of the craft.” -A.J. Edwards, Arts Writer