Peter McCarthy

Peter McCarthy is an Australian artist working between Sydney and Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.

With a background in weaving, McCarthy began his art career in mixed media paintings with strong textile references. His work now has returned to his roots in, creating contemporary constructed and woven textile pieces. His work is bold, abstract (often geometric) which reinterprets traditional forms associated with power and prestige to encourage the viewer to question the status quo of unfair leadership structures and social systems. Most recently, his work has been asking questions about societal values and what we esteem as a valued contribution.

Since commencing professional art practice in 2018/2019 McCarthy his exhibited in group and solo exhibitions in Australia, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Portugal, South Korea and Ukraine. McCarthy was selected as finalist in the Loewe Craft Prize 2022 and the Contextile Contemporary Art Textile Biennale of 2022, the Sunshine Coast Art Prize in 2023 as well as the Gallipoli Art Prize 2024.

Solo Exhibitions

2024 - 'N'Zassa', Craft + Design Canberra Gallery - Canberra, ACT, AU
2023 - 'Autrement', Musée de Cultures Contemporains - Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
2021 - 'Rencontre Insolite', La Rotonde des Arts - Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
2021 - 'Mal: Délimité', A[rt]péro - Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
2021 - 'La Mue', A[rt]péro - Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
2020 - 'Phénix Indigo', A[rt]péro - Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
2019 - 'Liminal View', Gallery ONE88 - Katoomba, NSW, AU.

Group Exhibitions

2023 - 'Ambivalence', Le Bourgeois Gallery - Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
2022 - 'Crafting The Hawkesbury', Hawkesbury Regional Gallery - Windsor, VIC, AU
2022 - 'Entre Deux Mondes', RIANA 6th édition Galerie Pièce Unique & le Basquiat Gallery - Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
2022 - 'Aporia', Pavé d’Orsay - Paris, France
2021 - Abidjan Art Fair (four simultaneous exhibitions) - Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
2021 - 'Sources/Ressources', Rencontres Internationales des Arts Numériques et Visuels d’Abidjan 5th edition (three concurrent exhibitions) - Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
2020 - 'Bernard Tano & Peter T. McCarthy', Walls House of Art - Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Awards

2024 - Gallipoli Art Prize - Sydney, NSW, AU (Finalist)
2023 - Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Calloundra Regional Gallery - Calloundra, QLD, AU (Finalist)
2022 - Surface Design Association Unconventional Materials award recipient
2022 - Loewe Craft Prize, Seoul Museum of Craft Art - Seoul, South Korea (Finalist)
2022 - Contextile International Textile Biennale, Palácio Vila Flor - Guimarães, Portugal (Finalist)