Pete Cerneaz

Pete’s work for this show

Dada continues to challenge established ideas about art. The ready-made disrupted the notion of the artist as a skilled maker, while the movement emerged from the shock and absurdity of a world fractured by war.

Preparing for this exhibition in 2026, I have found myself looking at my work through Dada for the first time. It has been unexpectedly revealing.

I’ve realised that when I see a fire, I reach for a bucket of petrol rather than water—not to destroy, but out of curiosity, to see what hidden truths the flames might expose.

Today, I see capitalism extracting physical, cultural, spiritual and financial wealth from our communities while carefully managing the images it projects. My work interrupts those images, appropriating and subverting familiar brands to expose the contradictions they ask us not to notice.

The original Dadaists responded to an irrational world. I recognise that impulse today. Rather than offering solutions, my work embraces contradiction, humour and discomfort to question the systems we have come to accept.

Further examples of Peter’s work can be found at www.blackpossumgallery.com.au