About Peter Savile the artist
Peter Savile
aka thepointyfinger
Peter Savile is a situational artist responding to the events, people and the environment around him.
Peter works from his studios in London and North Wales. He works in a range of media, choosing to look at the lighter side of life, loving the quirky, absurd and the ridiculous. Peter produces work with colour and humour, but this work is not frivolous there is a narrative or purpose behind it picking up on his own history, or pointing to contemporary events and culture.
"My work twists between 2D and 3D, with a strong element of theatre or at least static performance. My former working life has been in construction, translating 2D designs into 3D reality, so perhaps this is inevitable."
Peter Savile was a building surveyor for many years and out of this period comes his Instagram presence "@thepointyfinger" . The name is derived from the many index fingers, photographed pointing at defects, pasted into his past technical reports.
Peter has recently changed career. He had two years doing an undergraduate Fine Art course at Morley College London and in 2023 completed a Post Graduate Diploma at UAL Chelsea College of Arts. This year 2024/25 he is enrolled with Turps (London) and concentrating on painting.
"After 30 years as a building surveyor usually dealing with clearly defined technical and measurable issues, answered by equally measurable answers or solutions, it's fun to be released to grapple with the ambiguous, emotional and even unanswerable issues of life. Why is life so messy, how much is true and how much is delusional? These are issues I come back to time and again."
You can see some of his more recent paintings in the Gallery section of this website. Peter is working on several collections:
* Welsh landscapes,
* Urban landscapes,
* Footsteps (a collection of travel themed works)
* Spotlight (a collection focused on current affairs)
In another project Peter is also writing a book of short stories based around his alter ego Pointy.
"In my writings I explore narratives about self; true self and the myths we tell ourselves. Although some of my work is a self portrait the true extent to which it is autobiographical is left ambiguous, how well do I remember events anyway? Whilst I commonly mine my own history, the more I know of art history the more I find myself consciously and subconsciously referencing other works and other artists. I will be publishing a book of short stories in mid 2025."
Prizes
2024 Aug - Teravarna Gallery Los Angeles, 6th Annual Water Prize, Finalist.
2024 July - Ten Moir Gallery, Newark NJ, Honourable Mention.
2024 May - Teravarna Gallery Los Angeles, 5th Annual Landscape Prize, Highly Commended
2023 October - "Highly Commended", short story "Just a scratch" submitted to the King Lear Prize Competition.
Exhibitions and Shows
2024 July - Open Gallery, Halifax.
2024 July - Badger in the Wall Gallery, Clapton.
2024 June - Visual Artists Association (online exhibition)
2024 June - St Louis Art Gallery, Oxford.
2024 May - Wimbledon Art Studios, Spring Exhibition.
2024 May - Badger in the Wall Gallery, Clapton.
2024 May - Royal Hibernian Academy, Longlisted.
2024 April - Space Gallery, Hackney, London.
2024 April - L'Oeil Bleu Gallery, Le Marais, Paris
2024 January - Royal Cambrian Academy of Art, Oriel Gallery Conwy.
2023 July - Studio sale and exhibition, St Anns Hill, Wandsworth.
2023 June - GDFA Graduation Show Group Show Chelsea College of Arts.
2023 May - Group Show Putney School of Art Summer Show
2023 April - Group show at The Safe Houses, Peckham
2023 January - Group show at The Triangle Gallery, UAL
2022 December - Group show at Chelsea College of Arts
2022 June - Finals Group show, Morley Gallery Kensington & Chelsea
2022 May - Group Show Putney School of Art Summer Show
2021 June - End of year show, Morley College Kensington & Chelsea
2021 May - Group Show Putney School of Art Summer Show