Peter Darach

Peter Darach was born Peter Milliband in Derbyshire in 1940. Until his late 20’s, he moved through a typical career: from Derbyshire to the RCA, teaching in Oxford and Manchester. But in 1968 he’d come to feel the “reasonableness” of such a life to be in conflict with painting: he felt he had to search for “real” power in himself, partly through dreams. The decision, enhanced by personal trauma at that time, involved a complete overhaul; he became a squatter in South London and even changed his name.

His main quest in life is to place people he knows under a visionary light. The paintings begin completely blank and undifferentiated, and figures only slowly come in, crystallising the space and the mood, and this feels true to dream-experience.

Matthew Bateson