Piers Bateman was born in Perth in 1947 and grew up in Eltham, Victoria where his family moved in 1954. In 1966 he went to London for eighteen months and there began to paint seriously. On returning to Australia in 1968 he held a one man show at his studio in Eltham and this led to exhibitions at the Munster Arms Gallery, Melbourne; Manyung Gallery, Mt Eliza and the Saddlers Court Gallery, Tasmania between the years 1968 and 1971.

In 1969 he built a studio in the bush skirting Melbourne and this setting was a powerful influence on his work. In the immediately following years he often visited the waterfront areas of Williamstown, Port Melbourne and Mornington.

Piers developed a fascination for the sea, its restless qualities providing a balance to the tranquility and the timeless patience of the bush. This period also saw regular painting trips throughout Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. Light aircraft flights over much of western Queensland with artist Mervyn Moriarty in 1973 provided added stimulus to the development of his artistic skills. In 1975, Piers spent a year sailing in the Greek Islands aboard a fifty year old motor boat resurrected in Rhodes, eventually sailing to Amsterdam via the French Canals. Before returning to Australia in 1977 he crossed to London and spent two months painting the Thames waterfront. In 1980, Piers ventured on a trans-Australian painting expedition with Marcus Skipper to Broome, Western Australia via Alice Springs and the Tanami Desert, returning through the Kimberleys, Darwin and Cairns. Due to the adverse physical conditions of this trip he experimented with gouache as a medium for the first time. Working on large canvasses in oil back in his studio, the gouache impressions were the basis of his Red Desert Series, a theme he continues to develop. In 1981, Comalco Australia extended an invitation to visit their Weipa operations giving further opportunity to explore remote areas of Australia. Later that year he was the guest of Pilbara Resources.

1983 brought the artist back to the Mediterranean where he lived aboard his 38ft. ketch. After spending almost a year in the Aegean painting, he sailed to Alicante, Spain where he took a studio for the winter in the Bohemian quarter. In November 1986, Piers returned to Melbourne, again concentrating on painting his beloved Australian bush.

Between 1986 and 1996, Piers spent a considerable amount of time working and exhibiting throughout Australia, including several outback expeditions to the desert regions of central Australia. He was also a guest of Western Mining Ltd. in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia. In 1997 Piers set off on an adventure to Eritrea with surrealist photographer Bill Moseley. He took with him a deep love of desert country that he had developed in Australian and a curiosity to discover the desert in the African country. Following this expedition, Pier's work was exhibited in Asmara, London and New York. 1999 saw Piers embark on yet another expedition into outback Australia, this time via the Oodnadatta track, as well as being invited as Australia's representative at MAC 21, a contemporary Arts Fair in Malaga, Spain.

Piers sent me an e-mail, on 21JUL2000, calling my attention to his Painting "Volkswagen Dreaming" shown in his Site. I visited his Site and learned that Piers is an artist with world wide renown and his works make part of several art galleries. He also makes his work accessible to many persons by selling reproductions. You can see more details on that by visiting his Site, please refer to the address below.

Piers me enviou um e-mail, dia 21JUL2000, chamando a minha atenção para seu quadro "Volkswagen Dreaming" mostrado em seu Site. Para nós do Brasil este quadro lembra um cenário do nordeste agreste, mas na verdade ele mostra uma cena na Austrália, que tem grandes áreas desérticas. Piers é uma artista de renome internacional e seus quadros fazem parte de acervos de galerias internacionais importantes. Ele disponibiliza reproduções de seus trabalhos, maiores detalhes podem ser vistos em seu Site, no endereço abaixo.

Home Page: www.piersbateman.com.au

e-mail: Piers Bateman