Art has the innate and enviable position of being defined by the eye of the viewer – its many permutations and renderings are nothing without an inner sense of self and the modified overlays we place on a painting with our imaginative musings. Many artists chase this ideal within their works, and, for many, it comes naturally – yet it is a rare opportunity to find this sense of exponential overlay in an artist who not only meticulously plans his works, but for whom the planning is merely an extension of their natural ability.

The ability to convey more to the mind than the eye is able to fathom is an inscrutable part of what makes true art “work”. When a piece of art has the ability to speak to an inner, personal space, you are instantly gifted with glimpses of things to come – and it is without a doubt that the works of Michael Peck possess these many layers of communicative rumination.

Back in May 2011, I had the fortune of attending a brilliant snapshot of a unique moment in Australian painting. The High Definition exhibition, held at Melbournes Paradise Hills Gallery, was a landmark show for what was, at that time, still a relatively new gallery space. A tantalising glimpse into the world emerging Australian painters, the works by the various artists involved each pushed a separate envelope in a multitude of directions – and there was no ambiguity in the fact that they were doing so successfully.

There was one piece, however, that truly provided me with a visually arresting scene – a looming. massive oil painting with an indomitable presence. It was a fallen moment in time, depicting a snapshot of history bound by youthful innocence. The first flash in my mind when I laid eyes upon it, was of a scene from the movie “Empire Of The Sun”. I recalled the image of the young star of the movie walking over the crest of a small hill to discover a downed Japanese fighter plane. Proceeding to clamber within its mangled frame, he engaged in his own imaginary dogfight, shooting down invisible enemies with his minds eye. The image in my head at that moment was so vivid that it overlaid itself upon the piece itself, and, even though they each proposed different scenes and different stories, they were bound together by a visceral piece of memory.

It simply did what good art does – it went beyond the image, and entwined itself inside my own internal narrative.

Of course, I’d seen the work of Michael Peck before. I’d had the privilege of watching several works unfold, in the midst of creation, whilst he was residing at Melbournes infamous Blender studios – and, I’d also had the opportunity to see his works in a variety of shows across the city – work that I’d instantly become enamoured by. The painting at High Definition, however, was truly larger than life. It visually enunciated the talents of the artist in a way that I hadn’t seen before – as if all the elements that make his pieces so beautifully entrancing were laid bare before me on that single canvas.

“Crash” was the first tantalising glimpse of a new body of work that Michael Peck has been putting together for the past year. Living and breathing an idea that spans generational viewpoints, childhood retrospection and the wielding of objectified memory. From the moment I caught a glimpse of “Crash”, it was obvious that there was a plan behind the piece – the scope of which wouldn’t become apparent until Michael and I caught up for breakfast one Sunday morning St Edmonds café in Prahran. We’d met several times before through friends, yet this was the first time that I’d had a chance to really delve into the ideas and lines of thought that give his work an almost trademarked, blurred clarity – and in doing so I discovered a whorled, almost immeasurable depth behind his imagery.

From an early age, Michael Peck was gifted with a talent for realism. From High School, he took the oft travelled tertiary studies road in order to continue his practice, and it was from there that he found himself in the unique position of having already made a tangible mark on the art world . As he exited from those studies, he was one of the few who were able to make the transition from student to “artist” with relative ease.

“After I left University,” he explained with the humility that retrospection grants, “I was picked up by a pretty decent commercial gallery – Gallery 101. When that came about, I thought – oh this is too easy, this is what happens! It wasn’t until much later that I realised that for a lot of people doing that is really, really hard – and that afterwards, a lot of people actually drop off with their work completely.”

After leaving University, Peck also became a teacher – and as much as his days were devoted to work, every scrap of time outside of the grind was dedicated to his passion. As a person to whom a great deal of his happiness springs from the creation of his art, he began to find himself craving his craft with a barely suppressed appetite, and, inevitably, he increasingly found the balance between his hunger to paint, and his work life, untenable.

“I was just fitting it all in to every single moment, every holiday and every weekend, and any nights that I could,” he reflected.

Before arriving at any form of mentally existential breaking point, however, Peck reached a discernable fork in the road. Making a final decision, he left his day job behind and then fully began to immerse himself in his true love – painting.

“When I first came out of teaching and went into full time painting, it was such a quick change. It was something that I’d been waiting for forever, and thinking it was never going to happen,” he remarked. “Then, all of a sudden, a few things happened consistently income wise, and I thought , I can do this! I took that leap of faith, and things just rolled on from there.”

“I’m really lucky that I was in a really fortunate position that I could do it.”

With his marriage to wife Yvanne and a blossoming family life, and having already discovered a structured working ethic based around dates and deadlines, there was nothing stopping his leap of faith, and there were no reservations – bar one.

“The one thing I was worried about, having to then paint all the time, was whether I would be constantly inspired. Whether I could produce more work as I had more time, or if the ideas would just stop. Then, I found out something of value – your brain goes into creative mode all the time, rather than once a week, when you have time. That its your job to come up with ideas, and you just find ways to do it. I probably have more ideas than I know what to do with, things i want to explore and areas I want tor research, than I ever did before.

“So at the end of the day, I just try to just treat it like a job. I go into the studio at 10am, and I leave at 5pm in the afternoon – but its not work,” he continued, smiling. “It never feels like work. I actually feel guilty about leaving the house! Yvanne has the kids, and I’m like … oh! I better go to work now … but inside I’m all … Woooo! I get to go and paint now!”

“It’s absolute brilliant,” he laughs.

Frequently supercritical of his own output, self admittedly prone to the occasional bout of tunnel vision, and often left with the feeling that he hasn’t worked hard enough, Peck is always trying to find a balance between his brushwork and the language of brush marks.

As an artist working predominantly with oils, technique, time and process are, however, all fundamental artistic disciplines that he has managed to coalesce. As such, with technique being such a played out factor amongst critics, Peck doesn’t feel the need to buckle to popular vice or opinion in regards to what is “right” in his work, and what he should be doing with it – leading to an indifference in attitude when it comes to others attempts to steer his creativity.

“There’s this whole notion at the moment, people throwing around words like ‘loose’ and ‘tight’, and its a great painting if its ‘loose’ enough or if its ‘tight’ enough,” and I clearly remember him giving an ever so slight “I don’t give a shit” smile as he said it.

“A lot of the time there’s this amazing under painted brushwork that I end up painting out. Some people will be in the studio, and they’ll see that, and look at it and go “you have to leave it like that!” – but, no, sorry, that’s not me. That’s not what I want to do. I want to have that tension between the areas that are really fluid, and the others where its sharp. In reality, that’s not how we see things – our eyes never focus on something to the point where its so sharp that background loses all of its the detail – so this idea of pushing things out, areas of looseness and tightness, and especially in perspective works where it goes sharp, out of focus, sharp out of focus … that doesn’t happen in reality.

“So, all of a sudden, by doing that, you’ve just created something that’s completely surreal.”

In terms of time and process however, there is definitely the sense that the man has a well defined view of what is required to create his work.

Alongside his painting and drawing practices, Peck also incorporates a vast amount of research into his subject matter. In the past, he often wondered why it was that he hadn’t really taken advantage of the increases in modern technology, and the tools it provided, instead choosing to stick to such an old world medium as oil painting. After some thought, however, he quickly realised that his work was the direct product of the technological advances that surrounded him – though not in the way one would initially think.

Utlising the frequent breaks and periods of waiting that oils painting often entails, Peck scours the internet in a relentless search for new imagery and iconography, and, as he does so, he forms his ideas – breathing life into new combinations of objects and fascinations.

“Oils are perfect for being able to develop ideas,” he disclosed.

“You’re always waiting for paint to dry. Some day you have areas of the painting that’s going to be lots and lots of work, then sometimes you have paintings where it’ll be really general – like the sky, and you can do the detail in two days time. I’m usually working on about two or three paintings at once, and the rest of the time, I’m usually drawing, researching, and developing ideas.”

Thus, initially developing his ideas from the internets veritable avalanche of information, Pecks uses that most advanced repository of information in human history to glean nuggets of gold from its digital well spring; each image then forms a departure point upon which to embark upon each pieces journey.

“I’m using an old world medium because I just love working with it,” he expounded when we delved further into the topic.

“The tactile nature of paint is such that you’re pushing things together to make something out of it. You’re not using any quick and easy tools to do that. The way I initially form my ideas is by constantly searching for images I find interesting, I’m looking for an image that says something. Either that, or I’m looking for photo with its own story; and I can change that story. I guess, in a way, I’m always trying to create that timeless image – an image that speaks of a period when you see it, but that image could be from this time, or that time, or another time.

“I just really like the idea that you can find so many of these amazing images online.”

There is no doubt that the research and the processes by which Peck undertakes his work has had a direct bearing on the development of his upcoming solo show at Metro Gallery. Delving into his own family history, and following the many hypertextual paths that his wandering ideas took him, his endeavours drew together the varying strands and focal points that his research has uncovered. Starting with a mass amount of saved, culled or kept imagery, he then entered into extended, week long drawing sessions, plotting out images and dervishly spiralling through ideas – all with the assistance of a multiple pots of tea, and, of course, ever present tunes.

From these ideas and drawings, Michael Peck has shaped a seminal show in the form of “The Landing” – a brilliantly executed collection of works, brimming with gorgeous, symbolic images whose connective themes play heavily to the laconic muses of family, history and, of course, memory.

Click here for Part 2 of the Michael Peck Feature Interview.

For more information on Michael Pecks show The Landing, check here and for a bunch of photos from the opening click here. Also, check out his website, as well as the Metro Gallery website for more information on the artist!