Peter Bonner was born in Brisbane Australia, where, at the age of 8 years old, he won a city wide drawing competition open to children of all ages. Since then he has been drawn to paint. He has lived and studied in Brisbane, Melbourne, New York, Russia, Italy, Madrid, and London. He completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (First class Honors) in Melbourne, a post graduate diploma in New York and, in 2010, a Masters in Fine Art (by Research) pursuing his interest in perception, memory and the primitive.
As an undergraduate Peter won the Dobell prize, Australia’s pre-eminent prize for drawing. Since then he has been a finalist of the Dobell prize twice as well as a finalist of the Wynn prize, Australia’s pre-eminent prize for landscape painting. Bonner’s painting in the Wynn Prize precipitated a scholarship to study in New York, where he has continued to live. He spends his time painting and drawing in his studio in Brooklyn as well as in the deserts of central Australia and the American west. His work focuses on Narrative, exploring meanings which have their origin in lived experience.
