Cover - Viva Lewes

(including the cover image). I ask him why. “It
allows you to represent something ambiguously,”
I am told. “It’s not always obvious that it is there,
so it gives a kind of double image once you know
it is, which can change the meaning.” Looking
again I see what he means. At one glance the man
appears to look away from the woman, at another
they are looking at each other.
Peter’s work hangs full-time on almost every wall
of his house so later this month when he throws
open his doors for the Artwave festival, I suggest
that he won’t need to do much to prepare. Peter
agrees. “Yes, I’m lucky in that I have the space
to have a lot of my work on display all the time.
Apart from moving about a couple of bits of
furniture, it’s ready to go.” Peter is passionate
about the festival and his gallery-in-waiting-setup
seems proof of that. He also thinks of novel
ways to direct art lovers into the house during
the festival, such as boards with cartoonish faces
on them with speech bubbles urging people to
‘come in’. “I’ve noticed that there are some
punters who seem a bit reticent to go into
people’s houses”, he tells me, “so I want to give
them a bit of reassurance. And hopefully they
will be interesting for people to look at during
the festival.” Though there are others who come
in purely to look round the house, apparently. “I
had a woman one year who said straight away
that she hadn’t come to look at the art at all, she
just wanted to see the house. It turns out she used
to live here.” Did you mind? “I’m delighted to
welcome people in”, he says. “And if they end up
liking one of my pictures then all the better.” V
emma Robertson
W W W. V i V a l E W E S . C o M
The Artwave festival runs until the rd of september
in various venues throughout the Lewes district
including open houses, galleries, shops and cafés.
see the official brochure for more information
www.artwavefestival.org
a r t W a V E
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