| ...exciting, colourful and dramatic, his work gets down the continuous rapid transformations on the face of the worlds landscape. The vibrant energy in the paintings reflects the resonance of colour and form between man made and natural features. The rectilinear arc of a quay in a cornish natural harbour. A flat grey tin mine growing out of moor land gorse and bracken. Corsican citadels perched on the hills with passing storms. The blue paint of a distant farm exciting the yellow and green of farmland. The paintings are full of those plein air experiences that make him paint... |  |
Luke's first major show was in 1992 at the CCA Dover Street gallery, which also featured work by his late father Edward Piper (1928-1990). Since then he has been exhibiting regularly in London and at many regional galleries. Luke is the eldest grandson of artist John Piper. He was born in 1966 and brought up in Frome, Somerset. After studying at Frome College he went on to read geography at Cambridge University. His course amongst other things led him to Melanesia on an anthropological assignment to study tribal warfare. Having acquired an HGV licence, and sick of driving uk delivery circuits, Luke took to overlanding trucks across Africa. It was this period which inspired the 'Africa 95' painting expedition which involved an 8-month journey from Frome to Nairobi by way of the Western Sahara and Zaire. The ensuing exhibition in London was a sell-out. Subsequent expeditions across Southern Africa, Namibia and Mozambique in 1996 and 1997 led to another African show in 1996 and a series of prints. In 1999 and 2000 Luke undertook two trips across the Sahara desert working along the way through Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal. He also worked in France and Spain, Scotland, Wales and around the South west of England during this time. |
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In 1998 Luke travelled to Nepal to work on a commission for a new Hotel in the Himalayas. Some of this work was shown together with his portfolio of irish paintings at the CCA Fulham Road gallery. A second trip was made to Nepal over the winter of 2000-2001. Luke drove to Nepal and back via Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran Pakistan and India. Many of the paintings completed during the trip were shown at the hugely successful show at The Gallery in Mayfair London in October 2001. |
In the winter of 2002-2003 Luke travelled by car across the southern and central part of Australia and visited New Zealand and Fiji. Luke has also exhibited with Beaux Arts and Bohun Galleries and the Soho house. as well as other London galleries he has shown in bath, Salisbury, Bristol, Newbury, Frome and at other local exhibitions. If you would like to be informed of exhibitions in the UK or would like to commission a painting please contact mail@lukepiper.com or telephone +44 (0)1749 880142. |
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