Peter Strobos is a South African born artist from the Netherlands, who primarily paints with oil on linen. Through the years, his artwork has been collected internationally, with artwork in private collections around the world, including Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, Dubai, the Canary Islands, Curaçao and South Africa. His paintings have been commissioned by collectors in the United States, Europe, the U.K. and South Africa, and have also won awards.
He has participated in various exhibitions and events, starting at the Anne Bryant Art Gallery in the early 1990’s, and later at the King William’s Town Museum. He exhibited his paintings at different galleries and art shows, in and around Cape Town, for many years. During this time, he and his wife partnered to run their own gallery and public studio space. Other exhibitions include an invitation to a group exhibition at the 2003 Presidents Cup, and invitations to group exhibitions at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. He was offered representation by Everard Read Cape Town shortly before relocating to Europe.
In 2010 he was selected as an award recipient artist at the 25th Chelsea International Fine Art Competition, by Megan Fontanella, then Assistant Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. He received a Certificate of Excellence and was chosen to participate in the Collective Exhibition at Agora Gallery in Chelsea, New York.
Later that year, he was selected as a ‘Myartspace at Scope Miami 2010’ finalist by distinguished jurors: Elisabeth Sussman, Senior Curator, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York | Jarrett Gregory, Curatory of Contemporary Art, The New Museum, New York | Mollie White, Show Director, SCOPE Art Show | Catherine McCormack-Skiba, Founder & CEO, CatMacArt Corporation. His artwork was chosen to represent MyArtspace at SCOPE Miami 2010 in the Exhibitors catalogue, and a selection of his paintings were digitally on display at Scope Miami.
With an early background in graphite and pastel drawing, he later progressed to oil on canvas, and fine Belgian linen. Working from a limited palette, he prefers the flexible touch of large stretched linen substrates. With pure, strong colour and layering, he strives to achieve a luminosity that indicates aura, life, movement and tangible space.
Born in Port Elizabeth, and raised on the Eastern Cape coastline of South Africa, he later moved to the Cape Town area. On relocating to Europe, he lived with his family in the coastal town of Sitges, on the outskirts of the city of Barcelona in Spain’s Catalonia region, as well as in the Netherlands, and on the island of Curaçao in the southern Caribbean Sea. Spending most of his life in and around oceans, seas and rivers, his lifelong affinity with water and fascination with fluid forms have led him on a life journey of artistic exploration, a pursuit which becomes apparent in the different stages of his work.
Some of his early influences include Ancient Egyptian and Roman Art; the Dutch Masters, Rembrandt, Vermeer and Frans Hals; and the Surrealist, Salvador Dalí. He has had the privilege of visiting many Art Museums, galleries, historic and prehistoric art sites around the world, and continues to be inspired by the history and cultural diversities of the countries where he lives and works.
