DEITIES AND DETAILS
14 paintings on ply and 30 small works on paper
Exhibited at Bowen Galleries, February 2021
'I’ve been working on imagery from ancient Greek vase painting for nearly twenty five years now and continue to admire the skill and invention of the artists who painted those pots. When I first started I was reliant on books such as John Boardman’s Athenian Black Figure Vases and Athenian Red Figure Vases, books dense with hundreds of small black and white reproductions which I still treasure today. Because of the flatness of photography and the curvature of the vases, figures are distorted and often disappear around the sides, so when I copied them I would redraw and make up parts up that were unclear. The process of studying and redrawing has lodged the figures in my visual memory bank from where they have risen and morphed from time to time. In this way I have learnt to understand the systems Greek vase painters used to build figures and can therefore make my own.
When working on New Zealand historical themes I haven’t had excuse to use many of my favourite vases. This exhibition has no over-riding theme. I’ve copied, adapted, reworked or invented in the style of ancient Greek vase painting according to whim.'
14 paintings on ply and 30 small works on paper
Exhibited at Bowen Galleries, February 2021
'I’ve been working on imagery from ancient Greek vase painting for nearly twenty five years now and continue to admire the skill and invention of the artists who painted those pots. When I first started I was reliant on books such as John Boardman’s Athenian Black Figure Vases and Athenian Red Figure Vases, books dense with hundreds of small black and white reproductions which I still treasure today. Because of the flatness of photography and the curvature of the vases, figures are distorted and often disappear around the sides, so when I copied them I would redraw and make up parts up that were unclear. The process of studying and redrawing has lodged the figures in my visual memory bank from where they have risen and morphed from time to time. In this way I have learnt to understand the systems Greek vase painters used to build figures and can therefore make my own.
When working on New Zealand historical themes I haven’t had excuse to use many of my favourite vases. This exhibition has no over-riding theme. I’ve copied, adapted, reworked or invented in the style of ancient Greek vase painting according to whim.'
'Detail #1' - 'Detail #30', 2021, acrylic and paint pen on paper, 140 x 180mm each