This beautiful, heavily illustrated book traces
Peter Cleverley’s formation and evolution as
an artist, identifying the myriad influences
that aroused in him a profound sense of the
transience of human life and the paradoxical
complexity of the human condition. The
portrait that results shows how Cleverley’s sense
of the human condition has allowed him to
convey it symbolically in a way that simultaneously
captures not only the fragility of human
life, but also its joys. His art communicates an
appreciation of the beauty of this world and
the gift of being alive, together with the value
of art as a means of transcending mutability.
Cleverley is a painter whose work is destined
to be recognised for making an important
contribution to the history of art in Aotearoa
New Zealand.