Blotter, 1993, oil on canvas (Not for sale) Peter Doig has referred to his images as memories, flashbacks, or dreams. He doesn’t think of them as realistic, though there is an element of realism.
He is constantly taking photographs, which he organizes in files that he uses like sketchbooks. He also saves photos that he likes from magazines, record covers, or film stills.
When he begins a new painting or etching he chooses a photo that seems telling or poignant in some way to him, and uses it—he says—”like a map, a way of giving me a foot into a kind of reality I want.”
Daytime Astonomy, 1997-98, oil on canvas (Not for sale) He uses images over and over again, sometimes in paintings, sometimes in prints, changing how the image is cropped or some other detail about it.
His color is unusual, often somewhat hallucinatory, and parts of his images often dissolve in patterned surroundings or in areas of dark or light.
Olin MKIV Part II, 1995-96, oil on canvas (Not for sale) Doig was born in Scotland in 1959 but grew up in Canada. He studied art at the Chelsea School of Art in London, where he received an M.A. in 1990.He lived in London for 23 years.
In 2002 he moved with his family to the Caribbean island of Trinidad where he presently lives and works. In the 1990s many of his paintings showed people on skis or in a snowy landscape, but he has recently begun working with tropical imagery.
He is represented by the Victoria Miro Gallery in London and Gavin Brown’s Enterprise in New York City.