Biography

Artist and architect Peter Poulet was born 2 May 1960 in Sydney, NSW, to Russian immigrant parents Eugene and Natalie Poulet. His interest in painting and drawing since childhood led Poulet to study architecture at the University of Sydney between 1979 and 1984, where he gained a Bachelor of Science (Architecture) and a Bachelor of Architecture. It was during these years that Poulet became interested in sustainability, ultimately leading to his serving on the NSW Royal Australian Institute of Architects Chapter Council’s Sustainability and Education Committees.

Remarkably, Poulet’s final thesis at university was a work of paintings, later recommended by senior lecturer of architecture, Marr Grounds, to Frank Watters. In 1986 Watters Gallery in East Sydney hosted Poulet’s first exhibition of works that explored themes of the urban/built environment and its imposition on the natural world.

After finishing study in 1984 and graduating in 1985, Poulet worked for some private architectural firms before joining the NSW Government Architect’s office. In 1987 he was awarded the prestigious Monobusho Japanese Government Fellowship with a focus on the study of Japanese art and architecture. In 1988 Poulet went to the University of Tokyo in Japan for postgraduate study in architecture. While in Tokyo he also worked for Japanese architects Hisao Koyama and Toyo Ito. Poulet’s time in Japan working for Ito encouraged him to engage in architecture as an art form. While in Tokyo the Australian-Japan Foundation at Gallery Lunami supported a solo exhibition of Poulet’s paintings and his work was also exhibited as part of a group show at Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.

Returning to Sydney in 1990 Poulet resumed his position at the Government Architect’s Office and was appointed Assistant Government Architect in 2000. [In 2009 Poulet was appointed Tasmanian State Architect and served in this role until 2012. In 2012 Poulet returned to NSW to take up his role as the 23rd NSW Government Architect.]

From his first exhibition Poulet has been a well-received and prolific artist. He has shown his work regularly at Watters Gallery was represented by Christine Abrahams Gallery in Melbourne and also shows work with Despard Gallery in Hobart. He has been honoured as Artist in Residence at Bundanon in 1999 and at the New England Regional Art Museum in 2002. He has pieces in the collections of the major law firms Allen Arthur Robinson and Naker and McKenzie, the Unversity of New South Wales, Artbank, The Manly Hydraulics Laboratory, and the Bundanon Trust.

Poulet’s abstract painting uses colour, fluidity of line and the juxtaposition of forma and creates new environments. His work is influenced by nature and natural phenomenon – light, air, the feeling of space, enclosure and human interaction with nature – giving his art an organic sentiment. His body of work has evolved to explore more complex relationships between objects and forms as he brings more elements from the outside world into his pieces. Introduced elements reflect his ideas about the world and include thoughts that were from the earliest works, thus maintaining continuity of influence and motivation – nature and expression of his feelings and emotions. This awareness of nature is also crucial to his architecture and his interest in sustainability.

Throughout his life there has been a constant sense of exchange between his architectural and art practices. He credits his architectural training with giving him the discipline to work to a deadline and still be inventive and creative. Similarly, his art contributes greatly to his practice of architecture giving him inspiration and a more painterly approach to his design.

Although historically his art and architecture have occupied very different places there appears to be a convergence occurring. The Concrete House designed and realized for the Houses of the Future Exhibition for sustainable design in 2005, where he used his painting to bring out the free form of the design, exemplified this.

Elizabeth Livingstone and Dr. Catherine De Lorenzo 2008.