Talking With Painters

If he doesn’t have a paintbrush in his hand it’s likely he’ll have a guitar because Peter O'Doherty is as much a musician and songwriter as he is a painter. It wasn't long after leaving high school that he filled in for a guitarist of his brother's band who had gone on holidays and ended up never leaving. That band was Mental As Anything which rocketed to fame in Australia in the late 70s and 80s. During those years he taught himself to paint and that life - immersed in music and art - continues to this day. O'Doherty's paintings are mostly landscapes, many of them focussing on the manmade environment: fibro houses, red brick apartment blocks, cityscapes, quintessentially Australian. But he has also painted domestic still lifes: retro armchairs, a closeup of the washing up in the kitchen sink. His work has been recognised with awards including the Paddington art prize and he has exhibited in over 30 solo shows in Australia and New Zealand. But what I found most fascinating about our conversation were the