Education
Wheeler lived in Dunedin during the late 1990s and early 2000s, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Otago Polytechnic"s School of Fine in 2000.
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Pete Wheeler
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Since graduating he has held 16 solo shows in New Zealand, Australia, America and Europe. Wheeler"s paintings forcefully display social responsibility in relation to political situations. Often using controversial and confrontational images, his work is both powerful and relevant.
His images are both playful and aggressive, frequently using images taken from political propaganda and mass media as a basis for the venting of his frustration at the public acceptance of these manipulative political and marketing images at face value.
At the same time he argues that the representation of an image is no other than marks on a surface. Death, time and the shadow of history are recurring themes in Wheeler"s art
The artist habitually strips these to their bare essentials, often adding words or simple slogans, so as to both capture and mock their essence. Wheeler"s paintings have always displayed an introspection, and a sense of social responsibility in relation to political situations.
Many of the more controversial and confrontational images used derive from the rise of Nazi Germany and recent Islamic fundamentalism.
These works express a deliberate social conscience with an internationalist perception. fairs 2004 Sydney International art fair, Australia 2005 Glasgow International art fair, Scotland.
