Piers Ottey
Bio
Born London 1955
Studied London (Chelsea School of Art ) 1974-1978
Moved to Sussex 1980
Trustee of The National Open Art Competition for 17 years
Established The Mill Studios in 2000 and began teaching alongside painting.
Working from studios in Hackney, London, Sussex and extensive work abroad.
2020 No longer teaching, Piers turned his attention to his own work and now paints full time.
Solo Exhibitions include:
2022- ‘Five Decades of Painting’ With Oxmarket Contemporary, Chichester
2020- Zimmer Stewart ‘Yosemite to Canary Row’
2016 - "Sempre Endavant, Mai Morirem", Menier Gallery with Zimmer Stewart Gallery
2015 - "Raindrops on Roses", Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel
2014 - "We Love London", Hoxton Arches, Hoxton with Zimmer Stewart Gallery
2013 - The Gallery, Shoreditch, London, ‘Form and Process’
2012 – Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel
2011 – ‘London Seen’, Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel
2009 – ‘Alpine Paintings’ Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel
2008 – ‘Sussex Landscapes’ Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel
2006 – ‘Metamorphosen’, Galerie Stapfelhus, Weil am Reim, Germany
2006 – ‘New York Paintings’West Stoke House, Chichester
Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel
2005 – Saddlers Row Gallery, Petworth
2003 – ‘Figures’ Sheridan Russell Gallery, London
2002 – Saddlers Row Gallery, Petworth
2001 – Sheridan Russell Gallery, London
2000 – L’Artichaut Gallery, Chichester
1999 – Recent Works from Skyros, Deborah Bates Gallery, London
1994 – Seaford College, Duncton, Sussex
Stanstead House, Rowlands Castle, Sussex
1991 – Capron House, Midhurst
1989 – The Grange, Rottingdean, Brighton
Group Exhibitions include:
2022 - Oxmarket Open, Oxmarket Contemporary, Chichester
2020-2022- Portsmouth Museum & Art Gallery
2017 - Ruth Borchard Portrait Award, Piano Noble Kings Place, London
2017 - Mixed Show, Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel
2016 - 40th Anniversary Exhibition, Oxmarket, Chichester
2013 – Highgate Contemporary, London, The LONDON Exhibition
2012 – Medici Gallery, London, Cityscapes; Highgate Contemporary, Piers Ottey, Phil Tyler, Work from the Figure
2011 – Medici Gallery, London, The Geometry of Painting; The London Group, Cello Factory, London
2010– Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel
2009– Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel
2008 – Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel
2006 – Oxmarket, Chichester, Piers Ottey and Michael Frith
2004 – Rowley Gallery, London
2003 – ‘Unpacked’, Chichester; ‘You are here’, Havant Arts Centre, Havant
2002 – Piers Ottey and Stig Evans, The Mill Studio
2001 – Peters Barn Gallery, Midhurst; 101 Goswell Road, Barbican, London; Beatrice Royal Gallery, Southampton
2000 – Sheridan Russell Gallery, London; L’Artichaut, Chichester; The Red Gallery, Marlow; Beatrice Royal Gallery, Southampton; Royal Academy, London
1999 – L’Artichaut, Chichester; The Red Gallery, Marlow; Space and Light, Chichester Festivities, Bishop’s Palace; Portsmouth Open, Portsmouth
1998 – Chichester Open; Beatrice Royal Gallery, Southampton; Portsmouth Open, Portsmouth
1993 – Art’ 93, London
1990 – Four Sussex Painters, Paris, France
1982 – Amberley Fine Art Centre, Sussex
1981 – Amberley Fine Art Centre, Sussex
1980 – Sussex Artists, Brighton; Bath Contemporary Arts Fair
1978 – Stowells Trophy, Royal Academy, London
Publications, Reviews and Prizes
2022 - Five Decades of Painting, Andrew Churchill
2009 – Sussex Life, Piers Ottey, Artist
2008 – Essay, Piers Ottey, New Work, Mary Rose Beaumont
2007 – Winner Bath University Painting Prize.
1999 – Essay, Piers Ottey , New work from Skyros, Norbert Lynton
1999– Feature, Exhibit A magazine.
1994 – Landscape in a square , The Artist
1989 – Piers Ottey , New Work, West Sussex Gazette
Public & Corporate Collections include
Champs Hill, Petworth, Exxon Mobil, St Richards Hospital, Grant Thornton, Portsmouth Museum and Art Gallery, Worthing Museum, Pallant House Gallery, St Thomas’s Hospital.
Private Collections
London, New York, New Zealand, France, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Denmark amongst others.
Piers Ottey works from his studio in West Sussex.
Much of his work derives from visiting places at home and abroad. He has worked on images from the mountains of Switzerland to city paintings of San Francisco and London, where he was born and raised.
Piers trained at Chelsea School of Art in the 1970’s and has been painting professionally ever since. He moved to West Sussex in 1980 and set up The Mill Studio Art School in 1994.
Piers has shown in many countries including Germany, Paris and London, and can be found in private, corporate and public collections around the world. In August 2022 Piers completed a major retrospective ‘Five Decades of Painting’ at Oxmarket Contemporary in his home county of West Sussex which was received with great acclaim. Further details about this show and accompanying book are available. To purchase a copy click here
“Artists with a sense of humour are agile, deft and defy categorisation, which is wonderfully refreshing when the work is as challenging as is Piers Ottey’s. He revels in his power to puzzle the viewer, both visually in the paintings and verbally in some of his titles. He has a propensity to leave out important features in his landscapes whilst still titling them as if they were there, in other words the artist plays at being a conjuror.”
Mary Rose Beaumont - Art historian and Critic
“At any one moment,
his spirit, together
with what drives him
to be a painter at all,
leads him to work on
this and not on that.’’
Norbert Lynton, 1999