Peter Smithers

Peter is a biologist. He worked as an ecologist/entomologist at the University of Plymouth until he retired in 2013. Over his career he studied the ecology of spiders identifying each species by their unique genitalia. In his retirement he realised that these extremely small (0.1mm across) but complex structures held a strange surreal beauty, so returning to his love of painting he began a series of canvases depicting them as vibrant, complex and strangely beautiful structures. As an ecologist he sees these microscopic organs as a metaphor for the infinitely more complex but no less beautiful natural systems that surround us.