Peter Hoffer

Peter Hoffer is a Canadian painter born in Brantford, Ontario in 1965 and based in Montreal. Trained in both painting and sculpture, he holds an MFA from Concordia University, a BFA from the University of Guelph and a degree from OCAD University. He has lived and worked in Toronto, New York City, Paris, Montreal and Berlin.

His landscape paintings are recognisable by their materiality: he paints directly on wood panel, often leaves part of the support visible, then seals the surface under clear resin. Galerie de Bellefeuille is proud to count Peter Hoffer among the Canadian painters it represents in Montreal and Toronto.

The tree as subject

The central motif in Peter Hoffer's work is the tree. His titles say so directly: Northern Elm, August Beech, Beauvary Maple, Okame Cherry, Florence Cherry, Spring Almond. Each species has its own posture, its bark, its way of ageing, and it is that individuality the painter pursues rather than topographic likeness.

His trees do not reproduce an existing geography. They are composed figures, held apart from place and date, closer to portraiture than to survey. Trunks and branches are worked with an almost classical precision, while the rest of the panel moves in another direction entirely.

Wood, resin and surface

This is where Peter Hoffer the artist's training as a sculptor reads most clearly. The support is not neutral: the wood panel, sometimes built as a box, enters the image whenever he chooses not to cover it completely.

The clear resin finish, which he has used since studying at Concordia in the mid-1990s, produces an optical depth and a gloss recalling the varnish of eighteenth and nineteenth century Salon painting. Surfaces are often scratched, scarified and aged before being sealed. The result is as much object as representation.

For the light in his most recent paintings, Hoffer applies a single layer of translucent white and lets it distribute itself freely. The cloud-like patterns that emerge capture a quality of light particular to Eastern and Northern Canada.

Between realism and abstraction

A single Hoffer panel holds two registers at once. The tree belongs to a patient realism. The skies and backgrounds are spontaneous, gestural, openly painterly. That deliberate rupture inside the frame is what separates his work from traditional landscape painting, and what has led his approach to be described as deconstructivist: representation is set up and questioned in the same gesture.

Collecting Peter Hoffer

Peter Hoffer's work is held in several major Canadian public collections, including the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. His formats run from intimate panels to large-scale works, and the resin gives them a wall presence that shifts with the light in the room.

Collectors attached to the tree as motif will find a direct conversation with Robert Marchessault's trees. Those drawn to the Canadian landscape in its coastal register will find a neighbouring sensibility in Brent McIntosh's coastal landscapes.

For a more narrative reading of northern territory, Fabian Jean's northern scenes extend the discussion.

To see the Peter Hoffer paintings currently available, our team welcomes you to our spaces in Montreal and Toronto.

Career Highlights

• Born in Brantford, Ontario in 1965, Peter Hoffer lives and works in Montreal.

• He studied painting and sculpture at OCAD University in Toronto in 1990, completed a BFA at the University of Guelph in 1993, and an MFA in sculpture at Concordia University in 1996.

• He paints on wood panel and seals each work under clear resin, a technique adopted in the mid-1990s.

• His installation Retro Architectural Models, on urban architecture and organic decomposition, was shown in Montreal in 1998.

• His work is held by the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.

Notable Exhibitions

• Solo exhibition at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec City.

• Gallery exhibitions in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, London, Paris, Berlin, Boston and New York.

• Regular presentations at Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal and Toronto.

FAQ

Who is Peter Hoffer the painter?

Peter Hoffer is a Canadian painter born in Brantford, Ontario in 1965 and based in Montreal. He is known for tree and landscape paintings made on wood panel and finished in resin. He is not to be confused with Peter Charles Hoffer, the American historian.

How do you recognise a Peter Hoffer painting?

By three things. The wood panel support, often left partly visible. The clear resin finish, which gives a deep gloss. And the coexistence, within one panel, of realistically rendered trees and skies treated freely and gesturally.

Where can I see Peter Hoffer paintings in person?

At Galerie de Bellefeuille, 1367 Greene Avenue in Montreal and 87 Avenue Road in Toronto. The resin reads poorly in photographs, so this is work that gains a great deal from being seen in the room. Write ahead so the panels you want to see are accessible.