During his studies at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australian artist Peter Daverington sought to paint archetypal, romantic landscapes, bucking contemporary art trends in the early aughts. He found inspiration in the Hudson River School and eventually emigrated to the US—he currently resides in Kingston. His latest epic landscape is a large-scale mural at the Lofts at Beacon apartments.
Executed entirely in spray paint, Daverington's mural depicts an idealized landscape, like the Hudson River School artists before him. To capture the essence of the valley, he amalgamated features of the region, including Bannerman Island and the Catskill Mountains, all tied together by the Hudson River. The month-long project was commissioned by the Lofts at Beacon. "The brief was to transform this aged wall into something that you would enjoy looking at from your apartment," says Daverington. Located behind the community garden at the property's entrance, the mural is easily accessible for those interested in viewing it.
A former graffiti artist, Daverington appreciates the versatility of spray paint. It can handle rough surfaces, and it enables quick work. "It's a beautiful medium for fading colors," says Daverington. "I'm able to approximate the lights and the mood I want." However, he does admit the challenge of rendering foliage. "How do you represent all those leaves with a spray can?" he asks. "Ultimately, you have to stylize, because you can't paint every leaf in a tree."
In this mural, spray paint serves as a deliberate vehicle for anachronism, bridging the gap between street art and romantic landscapes. "I love the severe difference between the two," says Daverington. It also melds two different traditions with the Hudson River School style. "One of them is the techniques used by the Trecento Italian painters of the 1300s, who had a very stylized representation of landscape," says Daverington. "I also tried to give the branches movement similar to some of the more calligraphic approaches used by Asian painters."
In reflecting on his work, Daverington emphasizes the profound connection between landscape painting and historical context. "The romantic tradition of landscape painting really came on the back of the Industrial Revolution, of which this valley was a key player," explains Daverington. "The impact the revolution was having on the environment led the Hudson River School painters to focus on the beauty of nature. When I started incorporating the school into my work, I didn't even know what the Hudson River was. But it's really an essential piece of America."
