Peter Rodrigues

I graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Contemporary Fine Art in May 2008, having completed a National Diploma in Photography at Thames Valley University in 2005, achieving an overall merit and triple distinction for my final project, "Finding Beauty" which explored the beautiful photographic images and effects obtainable in the run down areas of cities.

Perhaps for this reason I have chosen to capture the essence of the moment in a photograph and then endow it with my own interpretation on canvas.

My Brookes degree exhibition consisted of six large monochrome canvases painted from photographs I had taken in New York during the summer of 2007. Three entitled "Silent City", portrayed the faded elegance of crumbling 19th Century architecture, typical of the older areas of New York. Three canvases entitled "City Life" were inspired by the character and vibrancy of the inhabitants of that city.

My latest works are monochrome, acrylic on canvas also painted from photographs taken in New York during the summer of 2007. I chose these subjects because I felt that my photographs had captured the moment, the light reflected on the elegant crumbling architecture of the older parts of the city: the unique vibrancy of the inhabitants of New York, but I wanted to expand that moment, to commit it to canvas with my own interpretation of the scene and of the individuals. Monochrome for me was like New York and its people, cutting to the chase, no frills, just the essence, the vitality of an outline delivering its message without fuss.

My "Silent City" canvases were chosen for exhibition at the National Gallery of Albania and the "City Life" canvasses for exhibition at the Alison Honour Gallery in September 2008. Three of my canvasses have also been chosen for exhibition at "Art for All" in Woodstock at the end of October 2008.